People gunned down at cafe tables in hotel attack
Extremists stormed a luxury hotel in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, setting off thunderous explosions and gunning down people at cafe tables in an attack claimed by Africa’s deadliest Islamic militant group. A police officer said at least 15 people had died.
“It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible,” said Charles Njenga, who ran from a scene of blood, broken glass, burning vehicles and pillars of black smoke.
Al-Shabaab — the Somalia-based group that carried out the 2013 attack at the nearby Westgate Mall in Nairobi that left 67 people dead — claimed responsibility for the carnage at the DusitD2 hotel complex, which includes bars, restaurants, offices and banks and is in a well-to-do area with many American, European and Indian expatriates.
Al-Shabaab asserted that 47 people were killed
Authorities sent special forces into the hotel to flush out the gunmen. About eight hours after the siege began, Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said all of the buildings affected had been secured. “I would like to reiterate that the situation is under control and the country is safe.”
However, more gunfire was heard about an hour later, Kenyan broadcaster NTV reported. Some family members said they had been in touch with loved ones still hiding, waiting to be rescued.
Authorities did not say how many attackers there were — or what happened to them — though Kenya’s Citizen TV aired security-camera footage that showed at least four heavily armed men in dark-coloured, paramilitary-style gear.
A police officer said bodies were seen in restaurants downstairs and in offices upstairs. A witness said he saw five bodies at the hotel entrance.
The assault began with an explosion that targeted three vehicles outside a bank, and a suicide bombing in the hotel lobby, said Kenya’s national police chief, Joseph Boinnet.
Survivors saw people mowed down by gunmen as they sat in a cafe. “We were changing our shifts, and that is when I heard a loud blast and people were screaming,” said Enoch Kibet, who works as a cleaner at the cafe and managed to crawl out a basement gate. “I couldn’t believe I was alive. The blast was so loud and shook the whole complex.”