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 19:59 · Jon Sharman]

All affected buildings have been secured, Kenya's interior minister has said.

[15 January 2019 20:10 · Jon Sharman]

Fred Matiangi, the interior minister, did not provide an official death toll.

"The situation is under control," he said.

[15 January 2019 20:24 · Jon Sharman]

The US embassy in Nairobi is "closely monitoring" events, the State Department has said. A spokesperson said the US condemned the "senseless act of violence" perpetrated earlier.