SoCal Woman Among Survivors In Deadly Nairobi Standoff

SAN DIEGO (CBSLA.com) — A former Southern California student is expected to make a full recovery after being injured in a terrorist attack at a Nairobi shopping mall.

Elaine Dang, 26, of Del Mar, took to Twitter to inform friends and family about her condition after two of her friends were among at least 62 people who were killed in the attack on the Westgate Mall by the Somalia-based al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab terrorist group.

In addition to Dang, four other Americans were among the 175 wounded in the attack.

Dang, who graduated from Torrey Pines High School in 2005, was working in Nairobi for an online restaurant guide and was going to meet her friends at the mall when she suffered a head wound in the siege that began on Saturday.

"I'm very grateful to be alive," Dang told San Diego affiliate KFMB following her surgery. "I'm very grateful to the Kenyan people. They have been so helpful and supportive."

A supervisor at Dang's place of employment said she has had operations on her chest, arms and legs, according to CBS News.

Her father, Steven Dang, talked about learning his daughter had been injured.

"I cried...and then I'm afraid," said Steven. "But I'm happy now she's doing okay."

Three attackers had been killed in the fighting Monday, and more than 10 suspects arrested, CBS News reported. Some terrorists and a few remaining hostages were believed to remain in the mall.

Southland law enforcement officials, meanwhile, said there was no indication of any terrorist threat locally.

"We are always monitoring issues that affect public safety," according to sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who said there was no evidence of any general threats against local shopping malls that may be related to the events in Kenya.

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