2 Canadians among dozens killed in Nairobi attack

Two Canadians, including a diplomatic staffer, are among at last 39 dead after masked gunmen opened fire in an upscale Nairobi mall in one of the most chilling terrorist attacks in East Africa since Al Qaeda blew up two US embassies in 1998. The Canadian Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Saturday night that Annemarie Desloges, a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency, was among the victims, who included more than 150 people from toddlers to elderly who were wounded as bullets flew and grenades exploded in the hours-long horror. In the pre-dawn hours Sunday, security forces were still locked in a standoff with the gunmen at the five-storey Westgate mall, frequented by Western diplomats and expatriates as well as Kenyans. It was still unclear how many hostages were being held by the Al Qaeda-linked militants. Hours earlier, Al Shabab, the Islamist extremists based in Somalia, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s assault in the Kenyan capital. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who was giving a speech in London, Ont., at the Ontario Progressive Conservative policy convention, offered his condolences for the two Canadian deaths. "Obviously we are devastated by the terrorist attack in Kenya. Al Shabab has wreaked havoc on this part of the world for far too long," Baird said. "In addition to the dozens of people killed and injured, we are very sad to report we lost a Canadian diplomat and another Canadian." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a statement, paid tribute to Desloges, whose husband works for an American aid agency. Noting four Americans were wounded but none killed, Kerry said, "We have lost a member of our own State Department family: the wife of a foreign service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development." Two French citizens were also among those killed. Saturdays attack is the deadliest terrorist incident in Kenya since Al Qaeda bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in August 1998, killing more than 200 and wounding more than 4,000. In 2002, the same militant cell attacked an Israeli-owned hotel at the coast and tried to shoot down an Israeli jet in a co-ordinated attack.