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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 10:12 AM Jan 2019

Gunfire and explosions rock Nairobi hotel in terrorist attack

Source: The Washington Post



By Max Bearak January 15 at 9:03 AM

NAIROBI — Explosions and gunfire rocked an upscale hotel in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday in a terrorist attack that sent people fleeing into the streets and left body parts on the ground.

Smoke from burning cars rose in the air outside the DusitD2 hotel and office park on Riverside Drive in Nairobi’s Westlands neighborhood. The building was surrounded by heavily armed police and ambulances as wounded people were carried out on stretchers.

Police on the scene described it as a terrorist attack, and some said there might still be hostages in the building, which has been cordoned off.

Yvonne Nkirote, who works at the Red House communications firm, said she had stopped by the Amadiva nail salon when there was a massive explosion. “I saw body parts and blood on the ground right outside,” she told The Washington Post as she was escorted out of the complex by police. There she was reunited with several work colleagues, and they burst into tears upon finding each other safe.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/gunfire-and-explosions-rock-nairobi-hotel-in-possible-terrorist-attack/2019/01/15/854acb86-18c6-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html

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mommymarine2003

(258 posts)
1. My son and his wife are heading there next week.
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 10:30 AM
Jan 2019

My son and daughter-in-law are heading there next week for work and vacation. This really frightens me. I hope that her workplace cancels the event, although they will be disappointed. They have two little children, and I know that I will be worried sick until they come home, if they wind up going.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
2. Nairobi attack: hotel gunmen in armed standoff with police
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 11:16 AM
Jan 2019
There were reports that at least three people had been killed and one suspect detained.
...
According to media reports, al-Shabaab, the militant Islamist organisation based in neighbouring Somalia, had already claimed responsibility. Al-Shabaab was responsible for an attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in 2013 which left at least 67 people dead.
...
As a helicopter flew low overhead witnesses at the scene said the gunmen and security forces were engaged in a fierce firefight. “There was a bomb, there is a lot of gunfire,” said one man working at the compound, asking not to be named.

Officials initially said the incident was a robbery, but admitted it could be terrorism. “All police teams have been dispatched to the scene where the incident is. As at now we are treating it as anything, including the highest attack,” the police spokesman Charles Owino said by phone. “All police teams including anti-terror officers are at the scene.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/nairobi-kenya-gunfire-hotel-complex-dusitd2

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
3. Nairobi terror attack: police regain control of hotel complex from gunmen (7 reported dead)
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 07:29 PM
Jan 2019

Source: The Guardian

Nairobi terror attack: police regain control of hotel complex from gunmen

Militant Islamist organisation al-Shabaab claims responsibility for armed assault

Jason Burke Africa correspondent
Tue 15 Jan 2019 20.44 GMT

Police and anti-terrorist forces have regained control of a Nairobi hotel and office complex, hours after it was attacked by Islamist extremist gunmen.

The assault on the dusitD2 compound in the Kenyan capital, which includes a luxury hotel, restaurants, a spa and several office buildings housing international companies, was the most outrageous by terrorists in the country for many years.

Sustained automatic gunfire and grenade explosions were heard as the gunmen rushed in and scores of people fled the scene.

There were reports that at least seven people had been killed and one suspect detained. At least 10 more were wounded, with local hospitals asking for blood donations. The death toll was expected to rise.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/nairobi-kenya-gunfire-hotel-complex-dusitd2

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
4. The Latest: Kenya: no more threat to public in hotel attack (at least 15 dead)
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 09:26 PM
Jan 2019

Source: Associated Press

The Latest: Kenya: no more threat to public in hotel attack

11 minutes ago

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Latest on the attack on a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya (all times local):

4:10 a.m.

Kenya’s interior ministry says “no further threat to the public exists” in the Nairobi hotel attack, and that civilians who had been “secured” in one building have been safely evacuated.

A tweet early Wednesday morning says all buildings and the surrounding area are secure.

Kenyan authorities have not yet announced the fate of the attackers. At least four were seen on surveillance video storming the hotel on Tuesday afternoon.

The ministry simply says the “mopping-up process” continues.

At least 15 people have died, including one American.

-snip-


Read more: https://apnews.com/554be8fae3494fe3bc4fc9ca9e3591e3

Sapient Donkey

(1,568 posts)
5. Is there any particular reason why Kenya seems to get so much of this violence?
Tue Jan 15, 2019, 11:18 PM
Jan 2019

I haven't done any in depth research here, but it sure seems like they get more terrorists attacks than other nations in the region.

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
6. Kenya and Somalia are neighbors. Al-Shabaab is trying to expand from Somalia into neighboring
Wed Jan 16, 2019, 03:57 AM
Jan 2019

countries and Kenya has been fighting them for years.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
7. Now it really appears to be over; could be 24 dead
Wed Jan 16, 2019, 07:16 AM
Jan 2019
In a TV address to the nation, Mr Kenyatta said 14 people had been killed but 700 others were safely evacuated from the complex.

However, the Kenyan Red Cross put the number of dead at 24.

A US citizen is among the dead, the US State Department said. He has been named as Jason Spindler.

A British citizen was also feared killed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46888682
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