14 killed in Nairobi terror attack, 700 civilians rescued from the building

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Wednesday that all Islamists who had stormed an upmarket hotel complex had been “eliminated” after an almost 20-hour siege that left at least 14 dead.

“I can confirm that … the security operation at Dusit complex is over and all the terrorists eliminated,” Kenyatta said in a televised address to the nation.

“As of this moment, we have confirmation that 14 innocent lives were lost to the… terrorists, with others injured.”

Police sources and a mortuary official had previously reported 15 dead.

Kenyatta said 700 civilians had been rescued throughout the siege, but did not clarify if people were still hiding in the complex.

It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total.

CCTV footage broadcast on local media showed four black-clad, heavily armed men entering the complex on Tuesday afternoon.

At least one of them blew himself up at the start of the attack.

A police source said two attackers had been shot dead Wednesday morning after a prolonged shootout.

“The two have red bandanas tied around their forehead and bullets strapped around their chest with several magazines each,” the senior police officer said.

“Each had an AK-47 which has been secured.”

– AFP

Earlier

Fourteen people have died in an Islamist attack on an upmarket hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenyan police sources said Wednesday, as fresh explosions and gunfire rang out in the siege which stretched into its second day. Rescue operations continued around the clock overnight to free workers still trapped inside the hotel.

Security forces worked throughout the night to secure the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, spa, restaurant and office buildings, after an attack claimed by Al-Shabaab Islamists on Tuesday afternoon.

Staff at a Nairobi morgue said the bodies of 11 Kenyans, an American and a Briton had been identified. The identity of the remaining two victims still needs to be determined as they were not carrying their passports on them.

At least one suicide bomber blew himself up at the hotel while gunmen sprayed fire before engaging security forces and holing themselves up at the premises as civilians fled or barricaded themselves in their offices awaiting rescue.

“We have 15 people dead as of now and that includes foreigners,” a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Among the dead was an American citizen, a State Department official said.

A second police source confirmed the toll but warned “there are areas not yet accessed but that’s what we know so far.”

After 12 hours trapped inside the complex, a group of dozens of people was freed at 3:30am (1230GMT), according to an AFP journalist at the scene, followed by fresh gunfire and a detonation.

“We still believe there are two or three attackers in specific locations,” the first police officer said. “The situation is far from over.”

The second police officer said that at one point they had been sure the attackers had been neutralised after a long period without shooting, however gunfire resumed again after 2am.

Further explosions and gunfire were heard shortly before dawn, with no official word on how many people were still trapped inside.

“There is a floor where they are shooting from, we still believe there are people there,” he said, after reports that a large number of people had fled upstairs.

Graphic content / A man passes in front of burning cars that exploded at the entrance of DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019, after a blast followed by a gun battle rocked the upmarket hotel and office complex. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)

Yesterday:

Gunshots rang out sporadically as night fell in Nairobi, where police combed the hotel and outlying office buildings for survivors while trying to flush out the attackers.

The attack at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and office buildings housing local and international companies, began at 3 pm (1200 GMT) with a massive explosion heard five kilometres (three miles) away at the AFP bureau.

The Al-Qaeda linked Somalian group Al-Shabaab, which carried out a notorious assault on a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist activities.

“We can now confirm that this criminal activity commenced at about three o’clock in a coordinated fashion and began at I&M Bank with an explosion that targeted three vehicles in the parking lot, and a suicide explosion in the foyer of Dusit hotel,” said Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet.

Kenyan security forces enter the building attached to the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019, after a blast followed by a gun battle rocked the upmarket hotel and office complex. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)

He said “a number of guests suffered serious injuries” but did not give a figure for fatalities.

An AFP photographer saw the bodies of five dead, slumped over tables on a restaurant terrace in the complex. An official at the MP Shah hospital in Nairobi told Citizen TV that seven wounded had been admitted, one of whom had died.

Meanwhile a police source, who asked not to be named, said he had seen as many as 14 dead.

Elite police forces evacuated terrified workers barricaded in offices for up to seven hours after the explosion, which was followed by an hour of sustained gunfire.

A number of heavily armed foreign forces, who appeared to be from embassies based in Nairobi, were at the scene alongside Kenyan security officers.

It was unclear how many people were still hiding inside office buildings or the hotel, owned by Thailand’s giant Dusit Thani Group.

“I can now report we have secured all the buildings … we are in the final stages of mopping up the area,” said Interior Minister Fred Matiangi.

Special forces arrive at the scene of a blast at the DusitD2 hotel complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2019, in Kenya. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. The explosion at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and office buildings housing local and international companies, was heard from AFP’s bureau some five kilometres (three miles) away. (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)

Simon Crump, who works in the complex, said terrified workers had barricaded themselves inside their offices after “several” explosions.

“We have no idea what is happening. Gunshots are coming from multiple directions,” he told AFP a few hours before he was also evacuated.

One survivor evacuated from the building, speaking to a local television station, said the attackers were: “very confident they were people who knew what they were doing”.

‘A flash and a bang’

John Maingi said there had been “a flash of lights and a loud bang” at the Secret Garden restaurant where he works.

“When I peeped outside I saw a human leg which has been cut off. We hid in the room and then some police officers rescued us,” he said.

Shortly after the attack began flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot where several cars where ablaze.

Police sirens echoed through the city and two helicopters buzzed overhead while ambulances with flashing lights lined up outside the hotel.

A private security guard at the scene told AFP he had seen four “gangsters” entering the compound.

An AFP reporter saw a bomb disposal squad blow up a car which they said the attackers had driven to the complex.

Shabaab

The attack at DusitD2 is the first in Nairobi since gunmen stormed the city’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, killing at least 67 people. The attack and ensuing siege lasted around four days.

That assault was also claimed by Somalia’s Shabaab, who have been fighting to overthrow the internationally backed government in Mogadishu since 2007.

The Westgate attack resulted in many upscale establishments and shopping centres in the capital — including the Dusit — putting up strict security barriers checking vehicles and pedestrians.

The Shabaab targeted Kenya after it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.

On April 2, 2015, another Shabaab attack killed 148 people at the university in Garissa, eastern Kenya.

In its statement, the Shabaab noted the attack came exactly three years after its fighters overran a Kenyan military base in Somalia.

“This attack on Nairobi hotel came as Kenyans and their media are commemorating (the) El Adde attack,” it said.

The Shabaab claimed more than 200 soldiers died in that assault, while the government has refused to give its own toll or disclose details.

Earlier

At least three people were reportedly killed in an ongoing attack claimed by militant group Al Shabaab on the Dusit Hotel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

An urgent appeal for blood has been made by Avenue Hospital in Parklands after a number of those injured were rushed to hospital. Other hospitals are expected to follow suit.

Kenyan security forces evacuate people after a bomb blast at DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2018, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)

The incident involving several explosions and an exchange of gunfire began earlier in the afternoon in the Westland district of the capital which also houses a bank and a number of offices. Local television showed smoke rising from a compound in the district of the city.

A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on Tuesday, causing casualties.

The explosion at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and several office buildings housing local and international companies, was heard from AFP’s bureau some five kilometres (three miles) away.

The Shabaab, which carried out a notorious assault on a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist activities.

Bullet marks are seen on the doors of an elevator in the building attached to the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019, after a blast followed by a gun battle rocked the upmarket hotel and office complex, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. – The explosion at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and office buildings housing local and international companies, was heard from AFP’s bureau some five kilometres (three miles) away. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)

AFP reporters at the scene saw wounded people being evacuated but said the full casualty toll was unknown. Occasional shots were being heard nearly four hours after the blast.

Simon Crump, who works in the complex, said terrified workers barricaded themselves inside their offices after “several” explosions.

“We have no idea what is happening. Gunshots are coming from multiple directions,” he told AFP.

He later said that police had begun evacuating people from the office buildings.

A reporter at the scene said gunmen and security forces exchanged heavy gunfire.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Bodies of victims are seen at the terrace of a restaurant after the bomb attack at a hotel complex in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb on January 15, 2019, in Kenya. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2019, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. (Photo by Kabir DHANJI / AFP)

“We are aware that there are armed criminals still holed up and our officers are trying to flush them out,” said Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet.

‘A flash and a bang’

John Maingi said there had been “a flash of lights and a loud bang” at the Secret Garden restaurant where he works.

“When I peeped outside I saw a human leg which has been cut off. We hid in the room and then some police officers rescued us,” he said.

Police sirens echoed through the city and a helicopter buzzed overhead.

A private security guard at the scene told AFP he had seen four “gangsters” entering the compound.

“There was a bomb, there is a lot of gunfire,” whispered another man working at the compound, asking not to be named.

“All police teams have been dispatched to the scene where the incident is. As at now we are treating it as anything, including the highest attack,” police spokesman Charles Owino said by phone.

“All police teams including anti-terror officers are at the scene,” he said.

An AFP reporter saw a bomb disposal squad blow up a car which they said had been used by the attackers to arrive at the complex.

Flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot where several cars where ablaze. Scores of people fled the scene, some of them injured.

Meanwhile, the vast upscale Village Market shopping centre in northern Nairobi said on Twitter that it had closed temporarily as a “security precaution.”

Shabaab

The scenes at DusitD2 were reminiscent of an attack in 2013 when gunmen stormed the city’s Westgate shopping mall, killing at least 67 people.

That assault was also claimed by Somalia’s Shabaab, which have been fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007.

Kenya suffered a spate of attacks after it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.

On April 2, 2015, another Shabaab attack killed 148 people at the university in Garissa, eastern Kenya.

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