An attack Tuesday on an upmarket suburb of Nairobi was a “co-ordinated” operation that included a suicide bombing in the foyer of a luxury hotel, Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet said.
“We can now confirm that this criminal activity commenced at about three o’clock [1200 GMT] in a coordinated fashion and began at I&M Bank with an explosion that targeted three vehicles in the parking
lot, and a suicide explosion in the foyer of Dusit hotel,” he said in a statement on television.
An injured woman is evacuated from the scene of an explosion at a hotel complex in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb on January 15, 2019, in Kenya. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2018, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP)
He said “a number of guests suffered serious injuries” but did not give a figure for any fatalities.
Boinnet said security forces had contained six of the seven floors of the hotel and were also working to secure “remaining outbuildings in the complex”.
“Our main is search and rescue as well as neutralisation of the criminal elements.”
Earlier
At least three people were reportedly killed in an ongoing attack claimed by militant group Al Shabaab on the Dusit Hotel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
An urgent appeal for blood has been made by Avenue Hospital in Parklands after a number of those injured were rushed to hospital. Other hospitals are expected to follow suit.
Kenyan security forces evacuate people after a bomb blast at DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2018, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)
The incident involving several explosions and an exchange of gunfire began earlier in the afternoon in the Westland district of the capital which also houses a bank and a number of offices. Local television showed smoke rising from a compound in the district of the city.
A spokesman for Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for what he said is "an on-going operation in Nairobi". Some of the latest pictures from #riversideattack: pic.twitter.com/jwRROVmsgj— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) January 15, 2019
A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on Tuesday, causing casualties.
The explosion at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and several office buildings housing local and international companies, was heard from AFP’s bureau some five kilometres (three miles) away.
The Shabaab, which carried out a notorious assault on a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013, claimed responsibility, according to the SITE Intelligence Group which monitors jihadist activities.
Bullet marks are seen on the doors of an elevator in the building attached to the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019, after a blast followed by a gun battle rocked the upmarket hotel and office complex, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. – The explosion at the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and office buildings housing local and international companies, was heard from AFP’s bureau some five kilometres (three miles) away. (Photo by KABIR DHANJI / AFP)
AFP reporters at the scene saw wounded people being evacuated but said the full casualty toll was unknown. Occasional shots were being heard nearly four hours after the blast.
Simon Crump, who works in the complex, said terrified workers barricaded themselves inside their offices after “several” explosions.
“We have no idea what is happening. Gunshots are coming from multiple directions,” he told AFP.
He later said that police had begun evacuating people from the office buildings.
A reporter at the scene said gunmen and security forces exchanged heavy gunfire.
EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Bodies of victims are seen at the terrace of a restaurant after the bomb attack at a hotel complex in Nairobi’s Westlands suburb on January 15, 2019, in Kenya. – A huge blast followed by a gun battle rocked an upmarket hotel and office complex in Nairobi on January 15, 2019, causing casualties, in an attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab Islamist group. (Photo by Kabir DHANJI / AFP)
“We are aware that there are armed criminals still holed up and our officers are trying to flush them out,” said Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet.
‘A flash and a bang’
John Maingi said there had been “a flash of lights and a loud bang” at the Secret Garden restaurant where he works.
“When I peeped outside I saw a human leg which has been cut off. We hid in the room and then some police officers rescued us,” he said.
Police sirens echoed through the city and a helicopter buzzed overhead.
A private security guard at the scene told AFP he had seen four “gangsters” entering the compound.
“There was a bomb, there is a lot of gunfire,” whispered another man working at the compound, asking not to be named.
“All police teams have been dispatched to the scene where the incident is. As at now we are treating it as anything, including the highest attack,” police spokesman Charles Owino said by phone.
“All police teams including anti-terror officers are at the scene,” he said.
An AFP reporter saw a bomb disposal squad blow up a car which they said had been used by the attackers to arrive at the complex.
Flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot where several cars where ablaze. Scores of people fled the scene, some of them injured.
Meanwhile, the vast upscale Village Market shopping centre in northern Nairobi said on Twitter that it had closed temporarily as a “security precaution.”
Shabaab
The scenes at DusitD2 were reminiscent of an attack in 2013 when gunmen stormed the city’s Westgate shopping mall, killing at least 67 people.
That assault was also claimed by Somalia’s Shabaab, which have been fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007.
Kenya suffered a spate of attacks after it sent its army into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.
On April 2, 2015, another Shabaab attack killed 148 people at the university in Garissa, eastern Kenya.
— Lucy_Kirathe (@lucy_kirathe) January 15, 2019
This is after the 1st bomb. I told my friend we run out fast. Some locked themselves in offices. I hope they are well #riversidepic.twitter.com/5QtsEQoj75— Kebaya (@armchairtycoon) January 15, 2019
Gunfire & explosions reported in #Kenya's capital, Nairobi pic.twitter.com/lz1FmoSYWb— Felix Tih (@Felix_Tih) January 15, 2019
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 15, 2019
— Kenya Believe It? (@Snoooop82) January 15, 2019
Students and administrators from the University of Nairobi be evacuated from the premises #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/BQl8u73A83— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) January 15, 2019
JUST IN: Gunfire and explosions reported near upscale hotel complex in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, AP reports pic.twitter.com/nvd7L8kODO— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) January 15, 2019
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