Family Representative: Naguib Damji

Naguib Damji: Copyright 2013, according to Times Colonist and A North Vancouver businessman has been identified as one of dozens of people killed in a deadly attack at a shopping mall in Kenya. Naguib Damji, 59, was one of 68 people killed by Islamic extremists who attacked shoppers Saturday at the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi. Damji was at a coffee shop with relatives when the attack happened, a family representative said. According to the account we received, a gunman came into the coffee shop and started shooting at people and throwing grenades, said the family spokeswoman, and Damji was shot. Damji was in Nairobi on business, said the spokeswoman. Kenya is a very safe place in general, she said. Something like this, nobody can predict this. Damjis family in Metro Vancouver found out about the tragedy through relatives who survived the attack. The family, which includes Damjis three daughters, requested privacy, saying their thoughts and prayers are with families who have lost loved ones in the terrorist attack. A Somali radical rebel group, al-Shabab, has claimed responsibility for the attack as retribution for the presence of Kenyan troops in Somalia. Tributes to Damji flooded into his daughter Farimas Facebook page, where a photo of Damji was posted. He was called a strong and caring man by those who knew him. One person described Damji as a nice man with a great soul. Another said he was full of life and so kind. A second Canadian was also killed in the attack. Annemarie Desloges, a 29-year-old diplomat who worked at the Canadian embassy, was off duty and shopping at the mall when the attack occurred, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Saturday night. That people could be gunned down in broad daylight in a shopping mall on a weekend is just a tremendous tragedy. And obviously when you have someone who is serving their country abroad, its quite devastating, said Baird, who was in London, Ont. speaking at the Ontario Progressive Conservative partys policy convention. When anyone is killed in a terrorist incident, it deeply affects us. But when its a Canadian, it hits home. And when its someone in government, obviously it just shakes us to the core. Desloges worked with Citizenship and Immigration Canada and served at Canadas High Commission in Kenya as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency, federal officials said. She is survived by her husband, Robert Munk, who was injured in the attack but has since been released from hospital, Baird said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.