SA charity worker killed in Nairobi terror attack
At least 14 killed, over 700 evacuated after attack by Islamist group
South African Luke Potter was one of 14 people slain in the terror attack on the luxury dusitD2 complex in Nairobi, Kenya, according to reports on BBC and News24.
Potter held dual South African and British citizenship and was in Kenya for the Gatsby Charitable Foundation as its Africa programmes director.
He had worked for the foundation for 10 years, three years of which were in East Africa.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened to confirm that Luke Potter was killed in the recent security incident in Nairobi,” a statement from Gatsby said.
The attack was claimed by the al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab, which has targeted Kenya several times since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group
Kenyan security forces have “eliminated” the militants who stormed an upscale hotel compound and killed at least 14 people in an attack claimed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Wednesday.
More than 700 civilians were safely evacuated from the dusitD2 complex, he added.
The attack echoed a 2013 assault on a Nairobi shopping centre that killed 67 people.
“The security operation at dusit complex is over, and all the terrorists eliminated.
“As of this moment, we can confirm that 14 innocent lives were lost through the hands of these murderous terrorists,” Kenyatta said, looking drained and grave.
He did not specify how many assailants took part in the terrifying 20-hour siege. CCTV footage showed at least four.
“From the means available to the security services and judicial arms, we will continue taking every step to make our nation inhospitable to terrorist groups and their networks,” added Kenyatta.
The east African nation is a hub for expatriates and has often been targeted by al Shabaab in revenge for sending troops to help protect the UN-backed but weak government in Somalia.
The attack on the dusitD2 hotel began shortly after 3pm on Tuesday with an explosion in the parking lot and then a suicide bomb blast in the foyer, police said.
Among the dead was an American, 11 Kenyans, a Briton, one with no papers, as well as an unidentified torso of a male adult. Some victims had been dining in the Secret Garden restaurant and lay slumped at tables.
It was a tormented night for families of those trapped as they waited outside the hotel, with sporadic gunfire ringing out, and the rescue of dozens of people at about 3.30am.
At least two groups were still trapped inside as dawn broke, and gunfire continued to ring out. Explosions and gunfire intensified from dawn until police managed to secure the complex by mid-morning.
The complex is home to offices of international companies including Colgate Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser, Pernod Ricard, Dow Chemical and SAP, as well as the dusitD2 hotel, part of Thai group Dusit Thani.
Kenya is a base for hundreds of diplomats, aid workers, businessmen and others operating around the region.
Hiram Macharia, a marketing executive at LG Electronics, said officers rescued him and some colleagues from their office two hours after the attack began. But one workmate did not survive.
“A colleague went to the top of the building and his body was found there,” said Macharia.
Families who went to the Chiromo morgue were told they could not view bodies until a forensic investigation was complete, provoking grief and anger. One man, who gave his name only as David, said he was yet to hear from a relative in the complex whose phone went off at around 4pm.
The family of a missing 35year-old man collapsed in the courtyard upon hearing that a body had arrived with his identification papers.
“He is gone, he is gone,” the father repeated into his phone as his mother wrapped a shawl around herself and wept.
Another family arrived, demanding to see whether their relative was there but were told only police had access.
As they argued, an elderly couple arrived in silence, bringing a freshly pressed suit to dress their dead son.
Outside the morgue, two Red Cross ambulances waited, their drivers asleep inside.
They would go to the complex to retrieve casualties once it was safe, morgue staff said. –