Toll in Kenya attack rises to 21, including American

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 overnight siege by al-shabab gunmen. Two people accused of aiding the attack were arrested.

The number of those killed at the Dusitd2 complex rose with the discovery of six more bodies at the scene and the death of a wounded police officer, said Joseph Boinnet, inspector-general of Kenyan police. Twenty-eight people were hurt and taken to the hospital, he said.

Extremists stormed the place with guns and explosives. Security camera footage released to local media showed a suicide bomber blowing himself up in a grassy area in the complex.

Of the civilian victims, 16 were Kenyan, one was British, one was American, and three were of African descent, police said.

Al-shabab, which is based in neighboring Somalia and allied with al-qaida, claimed responsibility.

The American killed in the attack was identified as Jason Spindler, co-founder and managing director of San Francisco-based I-DEV International. Spindler’s father, Joseph, said his son worked with international companies to form business partnerships in Kenya.

The Houston-raised Spindler had a brush with tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001: He was employed by a financial firm at the World Trade Center at the time of the terrorist attack but was running late that morning and was emerging from the subway when the first tower fell, according to his father.