Deadly end to standoff
Kenyan forces end 20-hour standoff
Kenyan security forces kill militants, who stormed upscale Nairobi hotel, after 20-hour siege.
NAIROBI: Kenyan security forces have eliminated the militants who stormed an upscale hotel compound and killed at least 14 people in an attack claimed by Somali militant group al Shabaab, President Uhuru Kenyatta said.
More than 700 civilians had been safely evacuated from the dusitD2 complex, he added yesterday, after an attack that echoed a 2013 assault on a Nairobi shopping centre that killed 67 people.
“The security operation at dusit complex is over, and all the terrorists eliminated. As of this moment, we can confirm that 14 innocent lives were lost through the hands of these murderous terrorists,” Kenyatta said, look
ing drained and grave.
He did not specify how many assail
ants took part in the terrifying 20-hour siege. CCTV footage showed at least four.
“From the means available to the security services and judicial arms, we will continue taking every step to make our nation inhospitable to terrorist groups and their networks,” added Kenyatta, the son of Kenya’s founding father.
The east African nation is a hub for expatriates and has often been targeted by al Shabaab in revenge for sending troops to help protect the weak, UN-backed government in Somalia.
The attack on the dusitD2 hotel began shortly after 3pm on Tuesday with an explo- sion in the parking lot and then a suicide bomb blast in the foyer, police said.
At least two groups of people had still been trapped inside as dawn broke and gunfire continued to ring out.
Eleven Kenyans, an American and a Briton were among the casualties, morgue staff said. Two victims were not identified.
According to its website, the complex is home to offices of international companies, including Colgate Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser, Pernod Ricard, Dow Chemical and SAP, as well as the dusitD2 hotel, part of Thai group Dusit Thani.