nicholas kulish, welcome to the program. so tell us where things stand right now.is this operation completely over or suspect it? >> well, you know, they've said that it's over and yet on my way here i was told -- i hit a roadblock and a soldier was told that for my own protection i had to go the long way around. there's still -- they're still clearing, they're still searching. this is an enormous mall with more than 80 stores in it and probably an almost unlimited number of hiding places. >> woodruff: how do you explain

nicholas kulish, welcome to the program. so tell us where things stand right now. is this operation completely over or suspect it? >> well, you know, they've said that it's over and yet on my way here i was told -- i hit a roadblock and a soldier was told that for my own protection i had to go the long way around. there's still -- they're still clearing, they're still searching. this is an enormous mall with more than 80 stores in it and probably an almost unlimited number of hiding places. >> woodruff: how do you explain the fact that the president has now said several times that they were finished but then it turns out that they haven't. what has made this so difficult? >> well, i mean, i think it's been particularly difficult because the assailants inside the mall were extremely well armed. there is the fear that if they went in too hard they would kill potential hostages and so, i mean, i think that mix of caution and extreme preparedness on the part of the militants made it very, very difficult for the kenyans to operate. >> woodruff: how much is known right n

. >> woodruff: how much is known right now, nicholas kulish, about the militants behind this, about how well organized they were? who they were. >> it's clear they were extremely well organized, no question about that. and it's also there's no question that al-shabaab, the somali militant group, has taken responsibility for it. from there it gets a little more complicated. al-shabaab has allied itself with al qaeda and there are other groups that they've been working in combination with. it has been suggested that americans might have been involved, british people might have been involved, freedom the arab world. so there's a great uncertainty in terms of exactly who people were who staged this attack. >> and finally tell us about what people in nairobi are saying. is there still a great sense of fear? how are people sensing all this? how are they handling it? >> well, i think there definitely is fear. people talk about not wanting to hang around in the food courts of malls or where people might strike next. i mean, there's real apprehension that comes from this attack. on the other han