HOTEL MASSACRE

neutralise the enemy and rescue the hostages. His actions certainly saved many lives and show the manner of these men, who are extremely brave and always ready.”

On Tuesday at 3.48pm, four heavily armed terrorists blew up three cars, distracting guards as a suicide bomber ran towards the hotel.

As a huge blast took out the entrance to the dusitd2 Hotel, in the Kenyan capital, the gang hurled grenades at people in the lobby and fired assault rifles.

The carnage that followed horrified the most hardened of local police officers when they arrived minutes later. Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti and his detectives set up an emergency cordon.

Then, armed with his Diemaco Carbine rifle and a Glock side-arm the unnamed SAS man arrived, running into the mayhem and rescuing panicking victims.

By 4.05pm, the rescue mission was fully under way.

Inside the complex, four men were slumped, dead, in the chairs where they had been sitting moments earlier enjoying what looked like a business lunch. Human body parts littered the floor, as did huge pools of blood on the once ornate walls and furniture of the upscale centre,which is popular among embassy workers.

Many of the victims – who suffered appalling injuries such as blast wounds, severed limbs and multiple bullet wounds – had bled to death before help arrived.

The SAS man was seen guiding a woman who could barely walk due to shock. Minutes later he was searching a suspect.

The special forces reconnaissance squad arrived in full force, storming the complex in a full-frontal rescue mission by 4.36pm and, within 12 minutes, many people had been evacuated.

The attack was just two miles from where al-shabab killed 67 people at the Westgate Mall in 2013.

In a statement yesterday, the group said: “The Mujahideen carried out this operation... [as]a response to the witless remarks of US president Donald Trump and his declaration of Al-quds [Jerusalem] as the capital of Israel.”