Al-shabab claims responsibility for Kenya hotel attack
Al-shabab claims responsibility for Kenya hotel attack
The Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab has said that it is responsible for the attack on Tuesday on the Wetlands, Nairobi Dusit hotel. Three hours after the attack began, reports say there was gunfire at the vicinity.
Al-shabab, on one of its media outlets gave details about how the attack was carried out: “started with a big explosion and was quickly followed by the forced entry of armed men into the “targeted” hotel.
Today’s attack comes three years to the day after al-Shabab militants attacked a Kenyan military base in Somalia where nearly 200 soldiers were killed.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers were six in number. “Police have cordoned off the area around the attack and there are many people running away from the area. I can see ambulances and four cars have been destroyed.”, an eye witness told the BBC
Daniel Kulecho emailed the BBC to say he left work early to collect his daughter from school and that traffic in Nairobi was unbelievable.
“I left work quickly to pick my daughter to safety from school, about 1km away from Dusit. Traffic is unbelievable! Our office safety team has organised a WhatsApp roll call for people to respond with SAFE.”
He told the BBC he was OK; “we are so scared though,” he added.
People have been fleeing the scene of the attack in Westlands escorted by heavily armed soldiers; one man has been led out with a gunshot wound in the back.
One office worker explained what had happened to her:
“I was inside the office, I was locked there. But when they blew the first, the explosive, I heard it and it shook my office.
I was inside the office, I was locked there. But when they blew the first, the explosive, I heard it and it shook my office.
“I don’t know where they were, but I heard a big blast, and then a lot of shoot-outs, then I wrote messages to people and told them, there is a very heavy shoot-out.
“Before I could think, they were hitting doors just around me, around the place, and I kept on praying, and God has saved me. But I’m so terrified”, he told BBC.