I have read reports that most remaining hostages have been rescued, and threat the UK and Israel have both sent rapid deployment teams to help… the reports are that TODAY the remaining terrorists and will be dealt with.

Another UPDATE:

CNN has changed its wording to the previous statement that Americans were involved. The Blaze notes this:

• BBC Africa is reporting Abu Omar, the Al-Shabab military commander in Somalia, has denied reports Americans are involved in the attack.

HotAir is noting however that the State Dept is close to confirming it true:

The US government is close to confirming this, CNN reports:

A senior State Department official told CNN that U.S. officials are trying to confirm whether the names released by Al-Shabaab are Americans, but said they are becoming more confident American citizens were involved in the Kenyan attack….

FireArm Blog goes through some of the pictures and catalogs the guns used, for the curious.

Video from in mall, video description:

Scary, the gun-shots are people dying. The guy holding the camera [phone ?] apparently made it… that is the assumption. If these guys are being pulled from Minnesota and other Western places… when will it happen here in the states?

UPDATE

Gateway Pundit notes what HotAir below hinted at:

Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab is claiming that there are 3 American gunmen among the others in a standoff at the Nairobi Mall in Kenya.  They are Ahmed Mohamed Isse, 22, “native” of St. Paul, MN, Abdifatah Osman Keenadiid, 24, of Minneapolis, and Gen Mustafe Noorudiin, 27, of Kansas City, MO.  The attack has killed at least 68, including the wife of a U.S. diplomat, and more than 175 have been wounded.

[….]

(PJ Media) …Other gunmen were named as being from locations such as Finland, Canada, the UK., Somalia and Kenya. None of the names were female, even though witnesses reported a white woman among the shooters.

That’s raised speculation about whether “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite, a British widow of one of the 7/7 attackers who became an al-Qaeda paymaster, is involved in the attacks. Last year she was on the run in Kenya as international authorities tried to hunt her down.

Nine names were released; authorities have said 10 to 15 gunmen are still believed to be in the mall holding around 30 hostages, including possibly children. CNN International witnessed one grief-stricken man trying to break police lines to get into the mall, claiming that his kids are still inside.

(HotAir Called it)

I tire of the term “senseless” violence, like this is just a fluke. No, it is very directed and concentrated… it is barbarians (the uncivilized) at the gate of humanity.

HotAir has these points near the end of their post:

Update: Don’t forget that al-Shabaab has done a lot of recruiting in the Twin Cities among the ex-pat community here, and a number of young men remain missing.  The FBI got quite a bit of cooperation from the Somalis here (no thanks to CAIR) as they tried to keep their sons out of the conflict that they had fled, and the probe has resulted in some indictments.  Keep that in mind as we find out who the perpetrators were in this attack.

Update: This might get the US more deeply involved:

France said two of its citizens were killed, and Canada said two Canadians died, including a 29-year-old diplomat. Ghanaian diplomat and poet, Kofi Awoonor, was also killed, as was a Chinese woman, according to China’s official news agency.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who offered assistance to Kenya, said several U.S. citizens had been hurt and the wife of a U.S. diplomat working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed.

Don’t be surprised to see a few of these nations band together for a punishing attack on al-Shabaab in the future. (via the Daily Beast)