Nairobi: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said that Islamists who stormed an upmarket hotel complex, killing 14 people, had been "eliminated" after an almost 20-hour siege in which hundreds of civilians were rescued. At least one suicide bomber blew himself up and gunmen engaged security forces in numerous shootouts during the assault on the DusitD2 compound, which includes a 101-room hotel, restaurant and office buildings.
The Foreign and Commonwealth office said at least one British national was killed in the siege. 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. In a televised address, Kenyatta said some 700 civilians had been evacuated throughout the attack at DusitD2. Police sources and a mortuary official had previously reported 15 dead.
It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total. CCTV footage showed four black-clad, heavily armed men entering the complex on Tuesday afternoon. At least one of them blew himself up at the start of the attack. A police source said two attackers had been shot dead Wednesday morning after a prolonged shootout. 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.
Nic Hailey, the British high commissioner to Kenya, confirmed that a British man was among the dead. "I'm very sad to confirm that we believe at least one British national has been killed in the attack and we are providing our support to his family and friends at this difficult time and our thoughts are with them." Among the dead was an American citizen, a State Department official said.
As the first explosion and gunfire rang out in the leafy Westlands suburb, hundreds of terrified office workers barricaded themselves in the complex while others fled.
