Gunmen still inside besieged Kenyan mall, sources say - CNN

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• Kenya's foreign minister says she believes some of the attackers are American
• Gunmen, including snipers, remain inside the mall, two senior officials say
• Authorities say they've arrested more than 10 people at an airport for questioning
• Kenya Red Cross: 65 people are unaccounted for after the attack

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Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- It's now day four, and the nightmare still isn't over.
No one knows how many hostages might still be trapped inside Nairobi's Westgate mall, the posh shopping center that has been littered with bullets and blood since Saturday. At least 62 people have already been killed, and that number could rise.
Several gunmen -- including snipers -- are still inside the mall, two senior officials said. And the Kenyan Red Cross said more than 60 people are unaccounted for.
But Kenya's Interior Ministry reassured a nervous public late Monday that there was little chance of escape for any surviving Al-Shabaab gunmen. It tweeted that authorities had the upper hand at the scene.
"Taken control of all the floors. We're not here to feed the attackers with pastries but to finish and punish them," Kenyan police Inspector General David Kimaiyo said on Twitter.
While the mall remains an active crime scene, authorities have also zeroed in on an airport and border crossings. More than 10 suspects were arrested at an airport for questioning in relation to the attacks, the Interior Ministry tweeted Tuesday.
"Security at all entry and exits across the country has being heightened," the ministry said.
Gunfire echoed from the mall sporadically during the Monday, sending journalists and aid workers scrambling for cover. Thick heavy smoke -- from a fire set by terrorists, according to Kenyan authorities -- billowed into the air much of the afternoon.
At least three terrorists have been killed since Saturday, the Interior Ministry said Monday. And 11 Kenyan soldiers are among the roughly 175 people wounded.
But more than 200 civilians have been rescued, the military said.
Americans involved?

Cell phone video shows Kenya mall attack

A Kenyan police officer guards the entrance of a building near the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, September 23. Gunmen burst into the mall and opened fire in a deadly attack on September 21. Kenyan authorities sounded increasingly confident Monday that they had brought the three-day standoff to a close, reassuring a nervous public that there was little chance of escape for any surviving Al-Shabaab gunmen who had terrorized the mall, killing dozens of people.

Heavy smoke rises from the Westgate Shopping Mall on September 23.

Medics take cover behind a tree as gunfire and explosions are heard from the Westgate Mall on September 23.

A Kenyan police security officer runs for cover as heavy smoke rises from the mall on September 23.

A paramedic runs for cover outside the mall on September 23.

People run for cover outside the mall after heavy shooting started on September 23.

Kenyan security forces crouch behind a wall outside the mall on September 23.

Soldiers take cover after gunfire near the mall on September 23.

Kenyan paramilitary police officers patrol the area near the mall on Sunday, September 22.

Soldiers from the Kenya Defense Forces arrive outside the Westgate Mall on September 22.

A woman shields a baby as a soldier stands guard inside the Westgate Mall on Saturday, September 21.

A rescue worker helps a child outside the mall on September 21.

People who had been hiding inside the mall during the gunfire flee the scene.

An armed official takes a shooting position inside the mall.

An armed official crouches on September 21.

Bodies lie on the ground inside the mall.

Men help a wounded woman outside the mall on September 21.

Officials carry an injured man in the mall.

Soldiers move up stairs inside the Westgate Mall.

A soldier directs people up a stairway inside the Westgate on September 21.

An injured man is wheeled into the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi.

People run from the Westgate Mall.

A Kenyan woman is helped to safety after the masked gunmen stormed the upscale mall and sprayed gunfire on shoppers and staff.

Crowds gather outside the upscale shopping mall. The interior ministry urges Kenyans to keep off the roads near the mall so police can ensure everyone inside has been evacuated to safety.

A policeman carries a baby to safety. Authorities said multiple shooters were at the scene.

Bodies lie outside the shopping mall.

A security officer helps a wounded woman outside.

Elaine Dang of San Diego is helped to safety after the attack. The military asked local media not to televise anything live because the gunmen are watching the screens in the mall.

Paramedics treat an injured man outside the mall.

Medical personnel carry a body away.

A body lies outside the mall. Gunmen shot people outside the mall as they entered it

A woman is pulled by a shopping cart to an ambulance.

A wounded man is escorted outside the mall.

A police officer carries a baby as people keep low and run to safety. Crowds dashed down the streets as soldiers in military fatigues, guns cocked, crawled under cars to get closer to the mall.

People run away from the scene.

Armed Kenyan forces take position to secure the area around the shopping mall as ambulances move in to carry the injured.

Family members who were trapped inside manage to escape. One mall visitor said people ran outside but would return inside upon hearing gunfire coming from outdoors.

A woman reacts after she is rescued from the mall.

A couple flee the area. As night fell, authorities said they had cornered the gunmen in the mall.

Armed police leave after entering the mall. At least one suspect has been killed, a government official said. Police have said another suspected gunman has been detained at a Nairobi hospital.

Armed police take cover behind escalators as smoke fills the air. Witnesses say tear gas was thrown in the corridors.

A woman who had been hiding during the attack runs for cover after armed police enter the mall.

A body is seen on the floor inside the smoke-filled four-story mall.

An injured person is helped on arrival at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi after the attack at the upscale mall.

An armed police officer takes cover during a volley of gunfire outside the mall.

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Photos: Kenya mall attack

See CNN anchor react to Kenya gunfire

Shooting witness: We crawled under cars
Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told "PBS NewsHour" that some of the attackers had come from the United States. She said they were originally from Minnesota and Missouri, PBS reported Monday.
"As you know, both the victims and the perpetrators came from Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States," Mohamed said. "From the information that we have, two or three Americans, and I think so far I've heard of one Brit" as being among the attackers.
"The Americans, from the information we have, are young men, about between maybe 18 and 19, of Somalia origin or Arab origin," she told PBS. She offered no other specifics.
Gen. Julius Karangi, chief of Kenya Defense Forces, also said the attackers came from different countries.
"We have an idea who these people are, and they are clearly a multinational collection from all over the world," he told reporters in Nairobi. "This is not clearly a local event. We are fighting global terrorism here."
U.S. officials don't have any confirmation of Americans having been involved in the attack, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said.
Intelligence analysts are poring over electronic intercepts in an effort to verify the terror group's claims, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
The siege
The terrorist attack began midday Saturday in Nairobi time, with an estimated 10 to 15 gunmen taking over the mall.
Witnesses said the gunmen went from store to store, shooting people, and then took hostages.
Survivor Bendita Malakia, a North Carolina woman who moved to Nairobi in July, told CNN affiliate WAVY that she took refuge behind the closed metal gates of a store with dozens of others.
The Kenyan spirit cannot be broken, says eyewitness resident
"While we were back there, you could hear them methodically going from store to store, talking to people and asking questions," she said. "They were shooting, screaming. Then it would stop for a while and they would go to another store."
Al-Shabaab has claimed that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and vowed they would not negotiate for the hostages' lives. CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said the terrorists apparently took hostages only to prolong the siege and win more media attention.
The dead
Officials said most of the 62 dead are Kenyans. Six British citizens, two French nationals, two Indians and two Canadians, including a diplomat, also died, their governments said.
Those killed include:
-- Dutch national Elif Yavuz, a senior vaccines researcher for the Clinton Health Access Initiative based in Tanzania. Yavuz was pregnant and expecting her first child in October, according to Julio Frenk, dean of faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Elif was brilliant, dedicated, and deeply admired by her colleagues, who will miss her terribly," the Clinton family said in a statement.
-- Yavuz's husband, Australian-British architect Ross Langdon. Langdon moved to Nairobi to build sustainable architecture for Africa, volunteering to build hospitals and clinic free of charge.
-- Kofi Awoonor, a renowned African poet, author and Ghanian statesman. Awoonor earned his Ph.D. from New York's Stony Brook University and was a professor of literature there in the 1970s.
-- A nephew of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, along with the nephew's fiancee.
-- A Peruvian doctor, Juan Jesus Ortiz, who had previously worked for the United Nations Fund for Children and lived in Kenya doing consulting work.
-- Sridhar Natarajan, an Indian national and employee of a local pharmaceutical firm, and 8-year-old Paramshu Jain, the son of a bank branch manager, CNN sister network CNN-IBN reported, citing officials in India.
The terrorists
The Somalia-based Al-Shabaab terror group said on Twitter that it had sent the gunmen to the mall in retaliation for Kenya's role in an African Union military effort against the group -- which is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.
Last year, the Kenyan military was part of a peacekeeping force that defeated Al-Shabaab forces to liberate the key Somali port of Kismayo.
The mall attack was the deadliest terror attack in Kenya since al Qaeda blew up the U.S. Embassy there in 1998, killing 213 people.
On Monday, Kenya's foreign minister told CNN it's clear that Al-Shabaab was not acting alone.
"This bares the hallmarks of al Qaeda," Mohamed said. "This is not just Al-Shabaab. In fact, the leaders are not Somali, as you may have heard. This was al Qaeda. It was a very well-coordinated effort."
But the attackers' national origins are irrelevant, she said.
"It doesn't matter where they come from. There are some Americans. There are some Brits. There are some others. It has nothing to do with the nationality of people. They are all evil and we must deal with them as such."
Al-Shabaab grew amid Somalia's lawlessness
CNN's Zain Verjee and Nima Elbagir and Arwa Damon reported from Nairobi. CNN's Michael Pearson, Becky Anderson, Lillian Leposo, David Simpson and Brian Walker also contributed to this report.