Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOTEL MASSACRE
7 dead in gun and bomb terror attack on luxury complex
AT LEAST seven people were killed and 10 injured yesterday after terrorists blasted their way into a hotel complex used by embassy staff in Kenya.
Heavily armed, Somalia-based Al Shabaab fighters struck in Nairobi at the dusitd2 hotel – leaving the dead among burning cars in the street as special forces swooped in.
Risking their lives to help the wounded, ambulance crews braved gunfire and blasts in the capital.
Serge Medic, the Swiss owner of a security firm, ran to help civilians at the scene when he heard of the attack from his taxi driver.
Mr Medic, who was armed, entered the building with a policeman and two soldiers but they came under fire and retreated.
He said: “Two armed men had scarves on their head and bandoliers of bullets. The main door of the hotel was blown.”
He described horrific human carnage in the street outside, two miles from Westgate Mall, where 67 died in an Al Shabaab atrocity in 2013.
The Australian embassy is opposite the complex, a hub for diplomatic workers and aid staff.
Gunfire continued for several minutes after the first reports. Black smoke rose from the site. A bomb disposal unit was sent to the scene and vehicles were cordoned off for fear they held explosives. Police spokesman Charles Owino said: “We have sent officers to the scene, including from the antiterrorism unit.”
Late last night, Kenya’s interior minister Fred Matiang’i said that all buildings had been secured and scores of people had been evacuated from the scene. The latest attack came three years to the day after East African Al Shabaab extremists attacked a Kenyan military base in Somalia, killing scores of people.