Kenya says that Nairobi attacks, all five armed men killed

Kenyan security forces help people escape after a bomb in the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 15, 2019. An explosive explosion followed by a gunfire shook a hotel and an office complex of luxury in Nairobi on January 15, 2018, causing victims, in an attack claimed by the Shabaab Islamic group linked to Al-Qaeda. (KABIR DHANJI / AFP)

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(AFP) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Wednesday that armed men who attacked a luxury hotel complex, killing 14 people, were "eliminated" after a nearly 20-hour operation hundreds of civilians have been saved.

The attack he was claimed by the Somali al-Shabaab group linked to al-Qaeda, which he targeted Kenya since he sent his army to Somalia in October 2011 to fight the jihadist group.

At least one suicide bomber blew himself up and others exchanged firearms with the security forces while assaulting DusitD2, a complex comprising a 101-room hotel, a health club, a restaurant and offices, it was open Tuesday.

"There were five terrorists and there were no more", said Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet at the AFP. "It's a compensation exercise now underway there."

For many Kenyans, news of the attack the rejuvenated traumatic memories of a 2013 Shabaab raid in the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi left 67 dead: a four-day siege that led to acute criticism of the authorities' response.

But this time the local media have praised the security forces for their intervention, which according to Kenyatta involved the evacuation of about 700 civilians.

"I can confirm that … the security operation of the Dusit complex is over and all the terrorists have been eliminated," Kenyatta said in a televised speech to the nation.

"From now on, we confirm that 14 innocent lives have been lost to … terrorists, with other wounded".

– Two arrested –

George Kinoti, the director of criminal investigations, told the AFP that "two main suspects" had been arrested in connection with the attack.

He said that one was arrested in the suburb of Eastleigh and the other in Ruaka, northwest of Nairobi, where the officers raided a house where one of the attackers lived.

"One of the men was identified by the locals, who called the police and confirmed that he lived there with his wife," a police source said on condition of anonymity.

CCTV footage broadcast by local media has shown that four men dressed in black and heavily armed enter the complex on Tuesday afternoon.

At least one of them blew himself up at the start of the attack.

A police source said two bombers were killed Wednesday morning after a long shoot-out.

"The two have red bandanas tied around their foreheads and bullets tied around their chest with several magazines each," said senior police officer.

"Everyone had an AK47 that was insured."

– British, American among the dead –

The attack it started at 3:00 am (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, with a loud bang followed by gunshots and quick calls for help on Twitter.

Boinnet has previously said the attack It began with an explosion that targeted three cars in the parking lot and a suicide bombing in the hotel's foyer.

Police sources and a mortuary official had previously reported 15 deaths.

Among the dead was an American citizen, a State Department official said.

The British foreign office confirmed the death of a British-South African double-citizen and said that another Briton was injured.

A mortuary officer said that there were also 11 Kenyan victims, an undocumented one, as well as an unidentified torso of a male adult.

It was a tormented night for the families of those trapped as they waited outside the hotel as they fired sporadic gunshots.

After dawn, explosions and shootings intensified until the complex was fixed mid-morning.

In the center of Nairobi, dozens of people lined up in a memorial for the American Embassy destroyed during an al-Qaeda attack in 1998 to donate blood.

– "Very confident" attackers –

As the first explosion and gunfire echoed through the leafy suburb of Westlands, hundreds of terrified clerks barricaded themselves as others fled.

The upset family members arrived in a mortuary near Wednesday, where they said they had not been allowed to see the bodies.

"My sister is not in any of the hospitals and the last time we spoke was a little calm, but she suddenly started crying and screaming and I could hear shots and her phone was on but he was not talking, "said a woman gave her name as Njoki.

"We have no doubt that his body is here, let it allow us," he said, crying.

A survivor rescued from the building told a local television station that the attackers were "very confident, they were people who knew what they were doing".

John Maingi said there were "a flash of light and a loud bang" at the Secret Garden restaurant where he works.

"When I peeked out I saw a human leg that was cut, we hid in the room and then some police officers rescued us," he said.

– "Chilling reality" –

An editorial in the Daily Nation newspaper said the attack It was a tough reminder KenyaThe security challenges were far from over.

The last major attack in the country took place in 2015, when Shabaab killed 148 people at the University of Garissa, in eastern Kenya.

Since then sporadic attacks have hit security forces mostly in the remote northeastern regions of the country.

"Just when we thought things were quiet, the gangs triggered chaos, for the Kenyans the chilling reality is that the attacks do not stop," read the editorial.

© Agence France-Presse