This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Large terrorist shopping mall attack in Kenya continues into third day


Soldiers move up stairs inside Westgate Mall in Nairobi Kenya on Saturday (CNN)

A large, well-planned terrorist attack on the upscale Westlake Mall inNairobi, Kenya, is continuing into a third day, although authoritiesare now promising “a speedy conclusion,” as of this writing onlate Sunday evening.

At 68 have been killed so far, 175 have been injured in the attackthat began on Saturday, and there are believed to be about 30hostages, though some have been rescued. Among the dead are thenephew of Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta, and the nephew’s fiancee.In addition, a Canadian diplomat has been killed.

The perpetrators are al-Shabaab, a Somalian offshoot of Al-Qaeda inthe Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Shabaab have been terrorizingSomalia, the country next door to Kenya for years. Starting in 2010,Kenya’s troops and African Union troops have been fighting al-Shabaabin Somalia, and have significantly reduced Al-Shabaab influence.

The attack was well coordinated, with gunfire and grenades coming frommultiple entrances, and appeared to have been in the planning stagesfor months. It’s being compared to the terrorist attack on a Mumbaihotel in 2008. (See “After Mumbai’s ’26/11′ nightmare finally ends, India – Pakistan relations face crisis” from 2008.) That attack killed 126 people inthree days, and injured 327 people. As the terrorists were fromLashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan, the attack almost led to war betweenIndia and Pakistan.

According to al-Shabaab on a twitter account, the terrorists are fromAmerica, Canada, Britain, Finland and Somalia. CNN

Minnesota Somalis are a known source of terrorists

Of the three terrorists from the United States, two are from theSomali community in the twin cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) regionof Minnesota.

The first wave of Somali refugees came to America in 1991 and wererelocated to Minneapolis, where there was a need for workers. Therefugees were so successful that their relatives soon followed, andtoday there are 40-80 thousand Somalis living in the region, includingmany that were born there and are American citizens.

However, this large community of Somali refugees also provides arecruitment opportunity for al-Shabaab, and the FBI has been raisingconcerns as recently as last month about al-Shabaab training videosdirected specifically at the Somali community in Minnesota. Calleddisaffected Minnesota Somalians to travel to Somalia for terroristtraining, and return to the U.S. to use those skills.

As a precaution, the Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest Mall inthe United States, capable of holding almost 10,000 people, has beenholding “lockdown drills” since 2009. Each drill lasts about tenminutes, and loudspeakers ask all mall customers to flee to thenearest store. All stores are closed during the drill, and customersare instructed to hide in the back of the store. CBS Minnesota and Twincities.com

Christian church worshippers killed by attack in Peshawar, Pakistan

The worst attack ever on a Christian church in Pakistan occurred onSunday when two suicide attackers blew themselves up while 400worshippers were greeting each other at the end of the Sunday service,in the northwest Pakistan city of Peshawar. The attack triggeredclashes between Christians and police in the southern port city ofKarachi. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP – the Pakistani Taliban)claimed credit for the attack, and blamed it on American droneattacks. The News (Pakistan)

Baghdad terror attack pushes monthly death toll over 500

At least 16 people were killed after a suicide bomber targetedmourners in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. A further 35 people werewounded in an attack in Doura, which came a day after a triple bombingat a funeral in Baghdad’s Shia Muslim stronghold of Sadr City killedat least 85 people. The surge in bombings in recent weeks has pushedthe monthly death toll to over 500. Al-Jazeera

New killings make Chicago the murder capital of America

Since Friday, 11 people were shot in Chicago, five of them fatally.13 people were injured in a shooting on Thursday, including a3-year-old boy. This week, Chicago became “the nation’s murdercapital,” with 500 murders in 2012, had more killings than any otherU.S. city that year. USA Today

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