Nairobi attack: Terror group al-Shabaab claims responsibility for suicide bombing at Kenyan hotel complex as reports say at least five killed

Police say attack began with explosion in car park and suicide bombing in hotel foyer

Terrified people flee upmarket hotel complex in Kenya capital after suspected attack

At least five people have been killed in a suspected terror attack on an upmarket hotel complex in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, reports suggest.

Eyewitnesses reported a number of casualties at the DusitD2 hotel and office complex in the city’s Westlands neighbourhood after an explosion and suicide bombing that have been claimed by al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist militant group.

Kenya‘s interior minister, Fred Matiangi, said at about 11pm local time that the “situation is under control” and that all affected buildings had been cleared.

Authorities did not release official death toll and injury figures, nor detail of how many attackers were thought to have been involved. Witness accounts suggested at least five people had died and some hospitals appealed for blood donations in the wake of the assault.

Survivors of the deadly attack described a massive explosion and the bodies of people shot dead while sitting at a cafe.

Enoch Kibet, who works as a cleaner in the complex, said: “We were changing our shifts and that is when I heard a loud blast and people were screaming.” She said she escaped by crawling out of a gate in the basement. ”I couldn’t believe I was alive. The blast was so loud and shook the whole complex,” she added.

Several large international businesses including Dow Chemical and Reckitt Benckiser have offices in the Riverside area, while the Australian embassy is across the road.

The DusitD2 complex is about a mile away from the Westgate shopping mall, where al-Shabaab carried out a days-long siege in 2013, killing 67 people.

See below how The Independent covered this story live

Key Points

• At least five dead, witness reports suggest
• Suicide bombing was part of attack, police say
• Eyewitnesses fleeing scene report multiple casualties
• Islamist militant group al-Shabaab claims responsibility for attack

[15 January 2019 13:45 · Tom Barnes]

Explosions and gunfire have been heard during what appears to be an attack on an upmarket hotel in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

“We are under attack,” one person in an office inside a complex in the DusitD2 hotel told the Reuters news agency via phone on Tuesday before hanging up.

Police are refusing to rule out a terror attack at this moment in time and have sent anti-terror officers to the scene.

[15 January 2019 13:49 · Tom Barnes]

Reports of casualties from the scene

One man was seen covered in blood as students were evacuated from a nearby university building following at least two explosions at a hotel in Nairobi.

Photographs circulated on social media showed three cars ablaze by the entrance to the hotel grounds and what appeared to be a human leg lying on the floor.

Four ambulances and a fire truck arrived at the scene as fleeing office workers told Reuters colleagues were still huddled under their desks.

[15 January 2019 13:58 · Tom Barnes]

‘I just started hearing gunshots’

A car windscreen damaged by bullets at the hotel complex (Reuters)One woman working in a bank near the hotel says she heard two explosions and gunfire as people fled the scene.

“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,” she said.

[15 January 2019 14:06 · Tom Barnes]

One man who was in an office close to the hotel at the time of the attack tweeted police asking for help as the gunfire and explosions broke out. He later tweeted to say the gunshots had stopped and he could hear people being evacuated from and office below.

[15 January 2019 14:09 · Tom Barnes]

Breaking: Islamist group claims responsibility for attack

A spokesman for the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack on a hotel complex in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, according to a spokesman for the group.

“We are behind the attack in Nairobi. The operation is going on. We shall give details later,” said Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab's military operations spokesman.

Witnesses and police at the scene have already described the incident as a “terror attack”.

[15 January 2019 14:18 · Tom Barnes]

Footage from Nairobi of the incident shows terrified people fleeing the scene on foot after gunshots had been heard.

The complex in the city’s Westlands neighbourhood where the hotel is located is also home to offices and a shopping centre.

[15 January 2019 14:23 · Tom Barnes]

The British High Commission in Kenya says it is aware of the incident unfolding in Nairobi this afternoon, in which it appears gunfire and several explosions have caused multiple casualties. 

[15 January 2019 14:30 · Tom Barnes]

‘What I have seen is terrible’

People are evacuated from the scene of the attack in Nairobi (Reuters)One witness has given a distressing account of seeing casualties at the hotel complex as he fled from the scene.

“It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible. I have seen a human as I ran out and there is what looks like minced meat all over," said Charles Njenga, who did not give further details.

“I have been hiding. My colleagues were running everywhere," said another man, breathing heavily, who did not give his name.

“I didn't see an attacker,” he added: “Yeah, it was a terrorist attack. I think so.”

[15 January 2019 14:38 · Tom Barnes]

Islamist terror group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack on a hotel in Nairobi this afternoon, which it appears has caused multiple casualties.

The group is the deadliest jihadi organisation in sub-Saharan Africa, largely operating in Somalia but known for brutal attacks on neighbouring Kenya.

Kenya has often been targeted by al-Shabaab, including an attacks where militants killed 67 people at Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013 and nearly 150 students at a university in 2015.

[15 January 2019 14:46 · Tom Barnes]

Survivor ‘saw at least two bodies’

A survivor of the attack on a hotel complex in Nairobi has said he saw the bodies of at least two people at the scene.

Robert Murire told AP he saw attackers wearing green and wrapped in ammunition belts.

It is still not clear how many casualties have been caused by the incident. Al-Shabaab, the extremist group that has claimed responsibility for the attack, said its members remained fighting inside the building.

Gunshots can now be heard again outside the complex, sending some people running for cover behind cars and screaming.