Death toll in Kenya attack rises to 21

Assault on hotel seems designed to damage the tourism industry

NAIROBI, Kenya — The death toll from an extremist attack on a luxury hotel and shopping complex in Nairobi climbed to 21, plus the five militants killed, police said Wednesday in the aftermath of the brazen overnight siege by al-Shabab gunmen. Two people accused of facilitating the attack were arrested.

“We will seek out every person … involved in the funding, planning and execution of this heinous act,” President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed in a televised address to the nation.

Security footage showed at least four heavily armed men in military-style garb took part in the attack marked by explosions and heavy gunfire. Kenyatta did not say how many attackers were involved, but “all the terrorists have been eliminated.”

Al-Shabab, based in Somalia and allied with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility. The Islamic extremist group also carried out the 2013 attack at Nairobi’s nearby Westgate Mall that killed 67 people, and an assault on Kenya’s Garissa University in 2015 that claimed 147 lives, mostly students.

The attack underscored the ability of al-Shabab extremists to strike despite military setbacks.

While U.S. airstrikes and African Union forces have degraded the group’s ability to operate, it is still capable of carrying out spectacular acts of violence in retaliation for the Kenyan military’s campaign against it in Somalia.

The attacks in Kenya’s capital appear designed to inflict maximum damage to the country’s tourism industry, an important source of revenue.