8 chilling photos from the Kenya mall siege

A glimpse inside the ongoing crisis

Kenya mall hostage siege
(Image credit: (REUTERS/Noor Khamis))

On Saturday, the Somalia-based al Shabab terror group used deadly force to take control of an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya. As many as 16 assailants lobbed grenades and fired automatic weapons into a crowd of weekend shoppers, killing at least 68 people and taking an unknown number hostage. The siege continued into Monday as government forces battled the terrorists for control of the building.

The images of shoppers-turned-survivors crawling, ducking, and sprinting for safety, often doing whatever they could to help petrified strangers do the same, shows how terrifying this ongoing ordeal really is. Here, a selection:

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Lauren Hansen

Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.