Cal Grad Injured in Deadly Terrorist Attack in Kenya

By Sasha Lekach, Bay City News Service

A University of California at Berkeley graduate was one of about 175 people injured in a deadly terrorist attack at a Nairobi, Kenya, shopping mall over the weekend.

Elaine Dang, of San Diego, graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in operations research and management science and mass communication in 2009 and went on to work with Teach For America at a Navajo reservation.

In June, she became the general manager for an online restaurant guide in Nairobi, called Eat Out Kenya, according to her LinkedIn biography.

Dang was injured when a terrorist group, believed to be Islamic militant group al-Shabab, stormed the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall on Saturday, took hostages and fought off Kenyan security forces. Reports indicate at least 72 people were killed in the attack.

Dang posted a photo of her bandaged head in a hospital bed on her Twitter page Sunday.

"Proof that I am OK -- hanging out with some of my best friends in Nairobi," she wrote about the picture.

She also posted on Sunday, "I am recovering. Thank you for all the love and support."

Her business colleagues posted Sunday a photo of a bloody, smiling Dang on Twitter with the caption: "She is recovering well. Concerned about the others who were not lucky to get out."

The attackers remained in the mall in a standoff with Kenyan authorities until today. According to media reports, the Kenyan president said this morning the terrorists had been defeated.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. – Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.