Westgate Mall attack: A vow that saved radio presenters

Aleem Manji and her husband Seema Sarkar who survived the attack. They are presenters of the East FM Breakfast show.

By STANDARD REPORTER

KENYA: There is nothing that prepares you — that gut feeling that you are gonna die, says Aleem Manji, a survivor of the Westgate Mall terrorist attack.

Aleem and her husband, Seema Sarkar, were at the Bidco Sunrise cooking competition on Saturday afternoon when the terrorists struck.

But nothing could have prepared either of them for the close encounter with the terrorists, including a weird conversation with one of the attackers that may have saved their lives.

“I looked at (my daughter) and held her close. If there was a chance that I got shot, or did not make it, I held his (husband Seema) hand and told him, I love you,” she recounted her ordeal to CNN.

Aleem and Seema are the husband and wife radio presenting team of the East FM Breakfast show that airs from 6am to 10am weekdays.

They were hosting a children’s cooking competition sponsored by Sunrise cooking oil, a product from Bidco Oil Refineries on the roof of the Westgate Mall. Recalls Seema: “The kids were running around in their little aprons, chopping up. We heard a series of gunshots.”

Seema says they called everyone to a corner, “Kids and mums and parents, everyone. And we said, ‘Get down! Get down! Get down on the floor! And just as we did that, the gunman tossed a grenade to where we were.”

The explosion sent shrapnel into Seema’s left eye. Two attackers brandishing guns marched into the function area.

One of them, who Seema only describes as wearing a white shirt, spoke first and what followed next can only be described as a very strange conversation.

“He said, ‘We are from Somalia and we don’t normally kill women and children. But then again you have killed our women and children.’”

His fellow terrorist standing next to him, whom Aleem describes as “tall and skinny”, just opened fire. One of the bullets struck Aleem on the top of her head.

With his wife bleeding by his side but still clutching their daughter, Seema had the audacity and bravado to confront the attackers.

What transpired next was the most bizarre religious conversation he has ever been involved in. He recalls: “I went up to him and I said, ‘Shahada.

Stunned, the attacker looked at him and asked if he was Muslim.

Seema says: “I replied, ‘Yes, I am.’ She (Aleem) was standing behind me holding the baby. He asked me, ‘Is that your woman?’ I said yes.”

There was a moment filled with anxiety. Aleem was clutching the baby with blood dripping from her head. Then the attackers decided to spare their lives.

Seema and Aleem are emphatic that the attack had nothing to do with religion. “Our religion preaches peace, understanding and humanity.”