By Maggie Njuki
You might remember him from the 2013 Westgate attack. Brandishing a gun, fearless Inayat Kassam would once again be spotted in the heat of an almost similar attack at the 14 Riverside attack Tuesday.
Doning a yellow shirt and black pants, Kassam would be seen rescuing victims from the besieged complex even as the nature of attack remained unknown.
In a widely shared video, Kassam can be heard saying to a lady he has just rescued who is clinging onto him, “Not today my sister, you’re not dying today…”
He is since being hailed as a hero with photos of the elite gin holder circulating online.
Inayat is the Managing Director of Scorpio Africa Ltd in Nairobi. His team provides security management and training in the form of security personnel, unarmed/armed training and certified firearm training (based upon the ITA South African curriculum). He is certified as an Advanced Tactical Shooting Instructor with ITA, and has also trained with various entities such as SKOPOS, ACT, and AMOK over the course of the last 9 years.
As Head of Operations, he was responsible for personally coordinating a rescue mission into the besieged Westgate shopping centre (left) during the 2013 terrorist attack. His team and expertise was instrumental in saving the lives of many civilians.