Nairobi: Terror at the Mall

On Sept. 21, 2013, Islamist militants opened fire in a crowded shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing more than 60 people. The Somali extremist group al Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retribution for Kenya’s intervention in Somalia in 2011. This e-single, a compilation of articles from the New York Times archives, gives a detailed account of this terrorist act and its aftermath. The siege of the mall went on for days and was finally secured by Kenyan troops. As the violence unfolded, a Times senior photographer, Tyler Hicks, happened to be nearby and raced to the scene, where he captured many powerful images, several of which appear in this e-single (Mr. Hicks won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for his work). The U.S. government also took a keen interest in the brutal assault, sending F.B.I. agents to investigate, hoping to prevent such a horrific event from happening again, possibly on American soil.