[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Kenyan forces they say they've regained control of the mall under siege for more than two days. All levels of Nairobi's Westgate Mall have been cleared but the search does continue for any hostages or terrorists, two more terrorists they tell us were killed today. Still, black smoke continues to rise from the building after the hostage takers set fire to mattresses inside. So far 62 people have died in this attack. Close to 200 others were hurt including several Americans. But one woman from North Carolina was able to escape.
[Bendita Malakia, Escaped Kenya Mall Shooting:] We stood up and we started to turn and then there was a second and we heard machine guns and then we started to run and there was a second explosion which knocked us on the ground. You could hear while we were back there methodically going from store to store talking to people, asking questions, shooting, screams, and then it would stop for a while and then they would go to another store. It was completely luck because we were on the ground and easily accessible. So I think part of it was luck. We did a lot of praying in there.
[Costello:] Just a short time ago Congressmen Peter King of New York spoke to CNN. He told NEW DAY, Kenya is still a dangerous place.
[Rep. Peter King , Homeland Security Committee:] Too often we think because bin Laden is dead that somehow the threat from Islamic terrorism is gone. It's not. In many ways it's more dangerous than ever because it's morphing and metastasizing in many countries under many different names whether it's Iraq, whether is Mali, whether it's Libya, whether it's Yemen, whether it's Somalia, whether it's Nigeria all of these countries.
[Costello:] Let's talk about that. I'm joined now by our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. Good morning, Nic.
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol.
[Costello:] I don't know if you're able to hear what Congressman King said but he said we're all in an extreme danger even within the United States from these terrorist groups. How do you characterize it?
[Robertson:] I remember talking to Mr. King just about a year and a half ago about exactly this topic. He made that point, he talked about the Somali community in the United States being relatively being a community there for the al-Shabaab type recruits could more easily recruit people from because of the nature of the community, not sort of integrated. This was this was his analysis back then and this does seem to have played in al-Shabaab's favor. They have recruited more than 100 people who were living in Britain, more than 40 in the United States, it's believed. So what we are seeing from al-Shabaab at the moment is them take a more radical turn. And that has happened under their current leadership. Some of these recruits that have come in from outside, some of them have actually been killed for challenging the leadership. That's a warning for future recruits for sure but right now that organization, al-Shabaab, is on a much more radical turn. And that's why we're seeing an attack like this in Kenya that they haven't mounted before Carol.
[Costello:] Well al-Shabaab is recruiting here in the United States but they are taking their recruits overseas to carry out their terrorist attacks. I'm sure that in many Americans mind is the concern that al-Shabaab will recruit terrorist who will work within the United States. How much of a danger is that?
[Robertson:] That is a danger. I mean here in Britain, the head of MI- 5, I guess the equivalent to the FBI said three years ago here that the people fighting alongside al-Shabaab now could be committing acts of terror on the streets in Britain, by implication the United States as well in the future years. So it's a very real concern. At the same time, because so many people have gone and because intelligence agencies have had time to scrutinize who they are, there is a certain level of comfort is the wrong word but there's a certain level of of hope, at least, that they would know, intelligence authorities would know these people, who they are, and would be able to pick them up if they tried to come back to the United States or the United Kingdom. Again, that really relies on them coming back in on without fake passports. It relies on them coming back in through airports or ports where they can be readily picked up. But it is a major concern that they would go to Somalia, get training, get this al Qaeda ideology, be directed to target places in the United States. So it's so it is an active concern. And there's a hope that it's under control to a degree, Carol.
[Costello:] Ok our national security expert Bob Baer joins us now. You stay right there Nic, but Bob I wanted to ask you about this. We talked a short ago to Brian Todd. He's in Minneapolis where al- Shabaab is apparently recruiting these young men to go to Somalia, to undergo this terrorist training. But Brian Todd said that al-Shabaab is kind of telling these young men that their lives will be better, that they won't partake in these terrible these terrible murderous sprees. What are you hearing about the ways al-Shabaab was able to recruit these young men in the United States who were born here?
[Bob Baer, Former Cia Operative:] Well, they convince them to go back to Somalia to help. It may start off as completely benign but once they get in the milieu of Somalia and they pick up a gun, they take on this jihadist mentality which tells them take take the war where you can, whether it's in Nairobi or Minneapolis. I mean this is a very real fear. Almost every office FBI office in the Midwest is focused on the Somalis community going back second generation, getting trained, and coming back to this country. It's a very real fear which cannot be ignored.
[Costello:] Nic was telling us a short time ago that this was an unusual place to target for al-Shabaab, this shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya upscale shopping mall, very nice. I'm sure that authorities here in the United States are also concerned are also concerned about these so-called soft targets.
[Baer:] Well, they are absolutely indefensible. I mean there's no amount of security you can put in the front door of a mall and ever protect it. It's a soft target, just as airplanes were before 911. And now we have a new soft target and you're going to see, I think, almost inevitably some sort of copycat attack, whether it's in Africa, Europe or the United States.
[Costello:] Ok. So what you just said is really frightening, Bob.
[Baer:] I I'm very frightened. You know I've been talking about malls for ten years and nothing has happened. But I think I think this is that's the drift. They are going for any target that they can get to and planes are out, malls are in.
[Costello:] Bob Baer, Nic Robertson, thanks so much, I think. Checking other stories at 37 minutes past. Two Navy crew members remain missing after their Night Hawk helicopter crashed into the Red Sea. Three other crew members were rescued. Officials say the helicopter was operation with the destroyer "USS William T. Lawrence" when it crashed. The cause is still under investigation but the Navy says it was quote, "Not due to any sort of hostile activity." Vice President Joe Biden in Colorado today where he will survey the aftermath of severe flooding that took seven lives and also destroyed homes and roads across the state. Some initial estimates have valued the cost of destruction at nearly $2 billion. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, time is running out for Congress. Lawmakers have exactly one week to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown but will it be able to come up with some compromise as the debate continues to heat up over Obamacare.