Gruesome attack strikes Kenyan hotel

NAIROBI, Kenya — Explosions and gunfire rocked an upscale hotel in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday in an attack that sent people fleeing into the streets and left body parts on the ground.

The Somali militant group Shabab told several news organizations that it was behind the attack. “We are currently conducting an operation in Nairobi,” the group’s spokesman said to Al Jazeera.

Kenyan national Police Chief Joseph Boinnet said in a news conference that armed attackers remained inside the complex “in what we suspect could be a terror attack.” Police at the scene said there might still be hostages in the building, which was cordoned off.

There were no official tallies of dead or injured.

Smoke from burning cars rose in the air outside the DusitD2 hotel and office park on Riverside Drive in Nairobi’s Westlands neighborhood. The building was surrounded by heavily armed police and ambulances as wounded people were carried out on stretchers.

Police moved slowly through the complex evacuating stores as frightened civilians poured out with their hands in the air.

Yvonne Nkirote, who works at a communications firm in the office park, said she had stopped by a nail salon when she heard a massive explosion.

“I saw body parts and blood on the ground right outside,” she said. Outside she was reunited with several colleagues, and they burst into tears upon finding one another safe.

Another worker at the complex, Sandeep Sura, said he saw the attackers, wearing all black. “I saw two very young guys with AK-47s,” he said.

Kenya has been repeatedly attacked by Shabab militants.

A 2013 incident at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall killed 67, and 150 were slain in 2015 when militants stormed Garissa University in northeastern Kenya.