By KIUNDU WAWERU

KENYA: On September 1, 2004, terrorists riding in a police van and a military truck drove into a school compound in Russia and immediately started shooting in the air.

School Number One in Beslan, Russia was packed with parents and pupils. The gunmen took hostage over 1,200 people, including 777 children. The armed Islamic militants held the school under siege for three days.

In the third day of the Beslan siege, Russian security forces stormed the building with tanks and rockets.

At the end of it, 334 people lay dead, including 186 children.

Many more were wounded.

 The Russian government was castigated over the manner in which it conducted the operation, which ended the siege.

A Kenyan ex-RECCE officer and Close Quarters Battle (CQB) Expert, argues that, historically, Beslan was the worst handled hostage crisis.

But, sadly, he claims that Kenya’s handling of the Westgate crisis, has now broken that record.

The CQB expert, a battle-hardened fighter, facial veins bulging with emotion, recalls hours of helplessly sitting in front of television watching an operation, which he says could have been controlled, going haywire.

Shortly after the attack on Saturday September 21, police officers and civilians, some armed, rushed to the mal, responding to what most thought was a robbery.

Friendly fire

The early responders included people like Abdul Haji, who armed with a pistol, saved many lives. Mr Haji is one of the civilians who protect Westlands and Parklands area.

The elite General Service Unit (GSU) RECCE Squad would later join them and many more shoppers who were caught up in the mayhem were rescued.

The RECCE Squad, armed with automatic CQB weapons like the M4 secured most of the mall and reportedly pinned the terrorists down at the Nakumatt shop.

From all indications, they were on the road to winning the battle. Then some Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) appeared on the scene. For lack of a clear command, a RECCE officer, Martin Munene, was shot in the melee, thanks to friendly fire.

“A RECCE (officer) would rather die from an enemy’s bullet than friendly fire,” reveals our source, who has been in touch with his former RECCE colleagues.

Most of the elite forces officers, says the security consultant, work as a team, reading each other’s body language and movements and trusting each other with one’s life.

The security consultant recounts an incident in Mombasa when they pursued terrorists to a house. One of them hurled a grenade at them. A RECCE officer reacted first to save the lives of his colleagues.

He shouted a warning to colleagues and quickly jumped lay flat over the explosive. He was blown to smithereens, but the rest survived to continue with the mission.

The ex-RECCE officer who have requested anonymity told The Standard that his former colleagues revealed to him that indeed they had gained control most of the mall, which they were approaching “systematically and sequentially as trained.”

But with the entry of KDF, the RECCE Squad pulled out leaving the operation in the hands of the military. This move, even some military insiders believe was a bad idea.

An military officer, who is not who is not authorised to speak to the media, says KDF did not take time to strategise and plan.

Tunnel

“The RECCE and the other police at the scene should not have withdrawn after the arrival of the KDF. They should have continued engaging the terrorists as the KDF gathered intelligence. The KDF moved in without a strategy,” laments the officer.

The officers was among the evacuation team that attended to the injured KDF Special Forces. By then, the Special Forces had not seen any terrorist, dead or alive. “Where are the bodies? If they are there, we too have not seen them, or they are probably buried in the rubble.”

But the soldiers is convinced that most of the terrorists escaped through a tunnel that the commanders were not aware of until a blast collapsed part of the mall.

After the attack, the officer reveals that the security forces obtained a map of the building which did not show the underground tunnel. A mobile phone video footage from one of the soldiers shows blurred images of the charred aftermath of the attack.

The RECCE squad is believed to the best-placed to handle hostage crises.

The RECCE is one of the units of GSU, number four after the training school, headquarters, and the G Company. The G Company oversees the security of the Statehouse and all State Lodges. The RECCE is chosen from the best of the best of the GSU officers, owing to their skills, aptitude and interest. The martial arts experts get further training at the Solio Ranch and continuous training, in exchange programmes with Israel and US either locally or abroad.

Bullet-proof

They train in VIP protection. They are trained in weapon handling with