Radio Africa Group Staff Claims He Saw the Elusive ‘White Widow’ During Westgate Mall Attack

Bernard Wambua of Radio Africa Group is one of the lucky survivors of the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, escaping without a scratch. The office administrator claims he came face to face with Samantha Lewthwaite better known as White Widow.

Speaking to Daily Nation, Wambua said, “I saw a light-skinned woman with a black money bag around her waist. She shot at us, ignoring screams from the children.”

He, together with about 50 colleagues from East FM were in the parking lot organising a cooking competition for children. Most of the children were accompanied by their families.

According to Mr Wambua, all was going well until 11.50am. “We had just finished preparing a table where the children were to do the cooking shortly before noon when we heard gunshots. At first we thought it was a robbery but the shots became louder as though whoever was shooting was headed in our direction.

“Two men came to the parking lot. They were in jeans and T-shirts, one with an Arabic headscarf wrapped around his head. In their hands were huge guns and I could see pistols sticking out of their pockets. They started shooting at everyone and everything.

Samantha’s forged passport

“Most of us hid under the table we had been preparing. That did not deter the gunmen and they just kept shooting.

“That’s when the light skinned woman joined them. She too had a gun. She would point at things and the men shot at them. She shot at a gas cylinder we were using for the competition which resulted in a small fire. Luckily, it did not spread. She blasted several microwaves too.

Anyone who screamed was fired at. They were unforgiving.

“They left the parking lot when it was silent, maybe they thought they had killed everyone. Just in front of me was Mitul Shah, the director of sales and marketing at Bidco, the competition organisers. He was dead. And there was a teenage girl by my side. She was shot in the stomach. There was terrifying silence. A strong smell of blood. Many dead people.”

[Daily Nation]