LONE SAS HERO OF HOTEL SIEGE
Elite British soldier in the thick of the fighting as he joins gun battle against Kenya terror gang
HE was in Kenya to help train its soldiers.
But an off- duty SAS man picked up his weapons and selflessly joined the bloody fightback against terrorist gunmen who had stormed a Nairobi hotel.
The lone soldier was at the heart of the battle as he ran into the hotel, opened fire on the fanatics and helped to rescue many of those trapped in the terrifying siege.
‘He fired off some rounds – it’s a safe bet he hit his target – the SAS don’t miss,’ said a defence source. ‘Running into danger is what special forces do.
‘He is a long-serving member of the regiment, there is no doubt his actions saved lives.’
The senior non-commissioned officer from 22 SAS squadron was out on a personal errand when he was asked to help out as the incident unfolded, sources said.
The 19-hour hotel siege began on Tuesday when at least four Al Shabaab terrorists invaded the DusitD2 luxury hotel and shopping complex in Nairobi, an area popular with foreigners.
After one of the terrorists detonated a suicide belt, the rest went on a gun and grenade rampage, killing at least 21, including a British charity worker.
A waiter at the DusitD2 Hotel told the BBC: ‘It was just after serving food to the customers, then all of a sudden a bang outside the hotel.
‘The terrorists started shooting at the people. After that we started running. Some were running outside, some were hiding in the toilets. I managed to escape through the back door.’
At the height of the terror rampage, the long- serving British special forces soldier pulled on a balaclava and his Canada Colt rifle and entered the hotel, still dressed in jeans and walking shoes. Sources told the BBC he opened fire on the Islamic extremists as he went in. The Ministry of Defence refused to comment.
Photographs showed him carrying a man covered in blood to safety, and then going back in to rescue a woman. Other images showed him discussing the operation with Kenyan troops.
It is understood he was joined in the mission by American special forces – US Navy seals – along with Kenyan anti-terror police.
Though the attack began on Tuesday, gunfire and explosions continued into early yesterday in a mopping-up operation before President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the siege had ended.
Video footage from inside the hotel showed Kenyan security officers searching the building and workers emerging from hiding while gunfire could still be heard.
Mr Kenyatta said: ‘All the terrorists have been eliminated.’
In his televised address, he did not say how many attackers were
involved but police sources later said five militants were killed. Last night the death toll rose to 21, plus the five extremists. A man and a woman were also arrested by Kenyan special forces yesterday during raids on homes in the capital.
Mr Kenyatta said more than 700 people were evacuated during the operation and he urged Kenyans to ‘go back to work without fear’, insisting the East African country is safe for citizens and visitors.
The Foreign Office said a UK citizen who was a British-South African dual national was among those killed in the attack.
He was named as father- of- one Luke Potter, who his employers said had devoted a decade to ‘helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world’.
He worked at the international development charity Gatsby as their Africa programme’s director.
Gatsby Africa said: ‘Luke was respected by all he worked with, bringing huge drive, determination, a relentless work ethic, and a thirst for new ideas to every project. He brought a calm head and his unique sense of humour to every situation.’
Mr Potter, who was 40, had only recently moved to Nairobi from Britain, having grown up in South Africa. Another, unnamed, Briton was also wounded.
An American who was also killed in the attack was last night named as Jason Spindler, who survived the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001. London-based company Adam Smith International said two employees were also killed. Abdalla Dahir and Feisal Ahmed were killed on the terrace of a restaurant in the complex where the company has Nairobi offices, the company said.
Some 50 people believed to have been in the building at the time of the attack were yesterday still unaccounted for, according to the Kenya Red Cross, fuelling fears that the death toll could rise.
Al Shabaab – the Somalia-based fanatics allied to Al Qaeda – claimed responsibility for the carnage.
It said it carried out the deadly attack in retaliation for Donald Trump’s declaration that the United States recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entitites) monitoring group said they had picked up on an Al Shabaab statement that the raid came on the instructions of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as a response to the US President’s ‘witless remarks’.
Al Shabaab carried out the 2013 attack at the nearby Westgate Mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.