10 years later, the Westgate attack orchestrated by Al-Shabaab terrorists on September 21st, 2013 remains one of the most tragic terror attacks to befall Kenya.

The siege that left at least 68 people dead with survivors having major gunshot injuries will forever remain in the memories of Kenyans.

The attack on the shopping mall, allegedly masterminded by Samantha Louise Lewthwaite aka ‘White Widow’ was an 80-hour operation. It was a retaliation to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) peacekeeping operations in Somalia.

In an interview with The Mirror UK, a teenager named Amelie Prior, who was then 6 and her younger brother 4, recalled the harrowing events and how she and her family ended up surviving the attack.

She remembered how masked gunmen walked around mercilessly firing at families who cowered on the ground. Her mother, Amber, hid herself and the children behind a meat counter and used her body as a shield for the children.

“While we were hiding, I heard lots of gunshots and the terrorists started shooting people around us. I didn’t even realise my mum had been shot at the time.”

“I remember when we got up there was blood on the floor and we had blood on our clothes and our shoes,” the teenager who schools at a Surrey boarding school stated.

The unfolding events, still fresh in her mind, included a brief conversation that Amelie Prior had with one of the masked gunmen.

“I asked him why he was doing this and he told me it was because the Kenyan army had come to his village and killed all their wives and children, so they wanted revenge.”

“He then apologised to us, saying we weren’t the ones who killed his wife and children. Then he gave us chocolate bars – I think it was a Mars bar and a Snickers,” the little one remembered.

Amelie also said that her younger brother had called the terrorist a ‘Bad man’. When the assailant offered them chocolate, her brother declined and asked for chewing gum instead. However, her sister suggested it would be wise to accept the Mars bar.

During the interview, their mother Amber disclosed that people lay flat on the ground while the terrorists started shooting systematically from floors above; one by one.

“They were walking among us and shooting us from above. Then a man stood over me and shot me through the leg. It was like a burning sensation,” she said, adding that her greatest fear at the time, was dying in front of her children.

Amber also conversed with one of the terrorists who coercively made her promise that she would convert to Islam had she been let free.

She added that she had informed them she was French, which seemed to alleviate the tension between her family and the gunmen since the attackers were primarily targeting Americans and Kenyans.

“My mum asked the terrorist if she could take two other children with her. Then she got a trolley to help carry an injured little boy out,” said Amelie.

Almost a decade later, Amber and her British husband Dan still live in Kenya. They own a film production company. Their children Amelie and Elliot study at a boarding school in the UK.

Amelie is currently pursuing her A-levels and has aspirations to study international relations and politics at the university level.

During the Easter Holidays, she visited the Westgate shopping centre for the first time since the tragic events, where she went to watch a film with her friends.