White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite 'plotted Nairobi mall massacre from secret lair just 100 yards away
She rented a house opposite the shopping centre where crazed Muslim fanatics later slaughtered up to 150 people, security forces say
The fugitive White Widow plotted the bloody Kenyan mall massacre from a secret lair just 100 yards away, security forces believe.
British mum-of-three Samantha Lewthwaite – now the world’s most wanted woman – rented a house opposite the shopping centre where crazed Muslim fanatics later slaughtered up to 150 people, they say.
Police sources said a “delicate operation” was now under way to search properties around the Westgate mall since the horrific four-day gun siege erupted in Nairobi a week ago.
Interpol has issued a worldwide alert to find 29-year-old Muslim convert Lewthwaite and sources revealed that a huge part of the probe centred on her being “ghosted” into Somalia – base of terror group al-Shabaab, which has claimed responsibility for the attack.
A source said: “Nothing is being ruled out, but a major strand of the investigation is looking at Lewthwaite having been in Nairobi more than once in the last few months but then travelling back across the border to Somalia.
“She has known links in the country and surrounding areas. Everything is being done to find her.”
A Turkish man arrested attempting to board an international flight at capital Nairobi’s JKI airport on Tuesday is said to own the property Lewthwaite allegedly used to plot the bloodshed.
The man, in his 40s or 50s, is also understood to be linked to a shop hired by the militants to store a deadly arsenal of weapons in preparation for the siege.
He has lived in the African country for three years and detectives were last night quizzing him over his potential connection to members of al-Shabaab.
It is also possible that he may have rented the shop to them unwittingly.
Sources said Lewthwaite, the daughter of a former British soldier, may have been seen in Kenya just 12 weeks ago.
She is the ex-wife of 7/7 suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, who killed himself and 26 innocent people on a packed London Tube train in 2005.
The White Widow has previously travelled around the world under a number of false aliases and was forced to flee South Africa with her children after running up massive debts using a fake ID in the name of Natalie Webb.
She had been renting a home in a suburb of Johannesburg.
Terrified workers emerge from a butcher's freezer at Kenyan shopping mall
Meanwhile, incredible footage has just emerged showing terrified people being rescued in the aftermath of the terror attack, during which parts of the shopping centre were blown up.
The video was filmed by civilian security guards who went to rescue hostages being held inside the mall by gunmen.
The brave group found people hiding from the heavily armed fanatics in a walk-in fridge in the building’s supermarket.
The guards can be heard instructing them: “We are civilians. Put your hands up, put your hands up.”
Another person can be heard assuring them “It’s OK” as three men walk out of the fridge to safety with their hands above their heads.
The rescue footage is a rare glimpse of hope from an otherwise catastrophic situation which saw both adults and children slaughtered.
Police yesterday claimed the first breakthrough in the case after a vehicle believed to have been used by the mob was recovered.
Kenyan officers are trying to trace the owner of the silver saloon, which was found around 20 metres outside the bullet-scarred and scorched shopping centre entrance.
Specialist forensic officers were yesterday seen examining the car as it is hoped it could hold vital clues to tracking down the gang.
Any forensic evidence will be cross-matched with samples taken from the house.
Exclusive - Ariel views of Westgate Mall
Police are also searching for a man who warned a pregnant woman at the mall to flee for her own safety just moments before the attack began.
It is believed he could be a “weak link” after what one police source called “a brief moment of compassion”.
It is not known whether the man joined up to 15 other militants who took part in the massacre or whether he was part of another group who are believed to have fled the mall, popular with Western expats and wealthy Kenyans, shortly before the bloodbath began.
Kenyan authorities are holding eight people in connection with the attack. Three others were released without charge after questioning.
The country’s interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the suspects were being held under anti-terrorism laws, meaning they could be held for longer periods before appearing in court.
As conflicting statements continued to be peddled by Kenyan officials yesterday, the Red Cross there said 61 people remained missing.
Up to 50 bodies are believed to be trapped under rubble in the shopping centre after explosions destroyed the building.
Earlier government spokesmen had suggested the death toll was not expected to rise significantly.
Rescue teams said it would take “at least a week” to reclaim the bodies after three floors of the building collapsed.
Forensic teams continued their examination of the mall and sifted through the ruins of the complex’s collapsed multi-storey car park.
Investigators from across Britain, America, Italy and Germany are continuing to help Kenyan police investigate the crime scene.
One international police officer, who asked not to be identified, revealed: “There are no time limits. The investigation will be painstaking and methodical. Any crumb of evidence could help us track down those behind this horror.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday vowed Kenya would not withdraw troops from neighbouring Somalia in the face of adversity.
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