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Shabab Claim Responsibility for Attack in Nairobi Shabab Claim Responsibility for Attack in Nairobi
(about 1 hour later)
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Islamist militant group Al Shabab claimed responsibility on Tuesday for an attack on an upscale hotel complex in Kenya’s capital, even as it said its members were still fighting inside. A luxury hotel and an office complex housing foreign companies in Nairobi came under heavy attack by Shabab militants on Tuesday, on the eve of a verdict in the trial of four men charged with helping the group stage a similar assault on a shopping mall five years ago.
The group, which has ties to Al Qaeda, issued the claim through its radio arm, Andalus, shortly after explosions and gunfire were heard at the complex in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi. Dr. Mercy Korir, a physician at a Nairobi hospital, said that at least one person had been killed and 15 others wounded.
The complex includes a large hotel known as DusitD2, banks and offices. Several vehicles were said to have burned, and people were reported being carried from the scene. The inspector general of the police, Joseph Boinett, confirmed there had been casualties but could not say how many. Although the Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, he declined to call it an act of terrorism and maintained that the police had the situation under control.
Gunfire continued for several minutes after the first reports of an attack. Black smoke rose from the scene, and the sirens could be heard as ambulances and security forces rushed in. Dozens of people fled the scene. Mr. Boinett said that one assailant was in custody and that the police were searching for others in the building complex.
A police spokesman, Charles Owino, said that officers had been sent to the complex, including from the antiterrorism unit, but he gave no more information. The raid began around 3 p.m. in the Westland area of the city, the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors the group’s activities, said. Witnesses told KTN News Kenya that four men had jumped out of a white car and opened fire as they arrived at a security checkpoint, before blasting their way into the complex.
The attack immediately brought comparisons to the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi in 2013, when Shabab extremists burst into the luxury shopping center, hurling grenades and starting a days-long siege that left 67 people dead. “I just started hearing gunshots, and then started seeing people running away raising their hands up, and some were entering the bank to hide for their lives,” a woman working in the neighborhood told Reuters.
Police and counterterrorism officers quickly surrounded the complex, and videos showed security officers evacuating dozens of people from the buildings while gunfire crackled in the background and cars burned.
“I tried to escape with a friend but she fainted as we ran away from the gunshots,” one woman told KTN News. “So I had to leave her and hide in one of the bathrooms until the police came and rescued me.”
One man emerged covered with blood, and others less obviously wounded were also sent to nearby hospitals. As of 6 p.m., an unspecified number of people were still huddled inside the complex, according to local news reports.
One witness said that she had seen body parts as she left the building, and there were reports of gun victims, including at least one child, being treated at local hospitals.
The attack by the Shabab, a militant Islamist organization linked to Al Qaeda, came exactly three years after the group assaulted a Kenyan military base in Somalia that killed around 140 soldiers. The group, which is based in Somalia, was also responsible for an attack in 2013 on the Westgate mall in Nairobi where the militants killed 67 people.
The Shabab have been fighting the United Nations-backed government in Mogadishu, Somalia, for years, seeking to impose its strict interpretation of Islam. In recent months, they have carried out a spate of attacks in Kenya, killing dozens.
The attack came shortly before a court was expected to hand down a verdict in the trial of four men charged with aiding the Shabab in the mall attack. The men have denied the charges.