Nairobi security operation is going on, among the dead was an American citizen, The US State Department official said. Reportedly, several foreign nationals counted among 15 dead, police suggest.
Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet said the attack began with an explosion targeting three cars in the parking lot and a suicide bombing in the foyer of the Dusit hotel. One suicide bomber blew himself up at the hotel while gunmen sprayed fire before engaging security forces and holding themselves up at the premises as civilians fled or barricaded themselves in their offices awaiting rescue.
“We have 15 people dead as of now and that includes foreigners,” a police source told the journalists while another warned”there are areas not yet accessed but that’s what we know so far.” “The area around 14 Riverside Drive is a Crime Scene … under an active security operation,” police twitted officially.
After 12 hours trapped inside the complex, a group of dozens of people was freed at 3:30 am (1230 GMT), followed by fresh gunfire and a detonation.
Shabaab took responsibility for the terroristic act in Nairobi hotel
The attack was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Somali group Al-Shabaab, which has repeatedly targeted Kenya since it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.
The attack at DusitD2 is the first in Nairobi since gunmen stormed the city’s Westgate shopping mall in 2013, killing at least 67 people.
