Kenya’s Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i says the country is safe and the situation under control after Tuesday’s terrorist attack on a hotel and shopping center in Nairobi, VOA news reports.
At least five people were killed, but the death toll will undoubtedly climb as police and soldiers make their way through the DusitD2 hotel and office complex.
One policeman said there were bodies slumped over tables in a hotel restaurant and others inside offices throughout the complex.
The number of wounded is also unclear. Witness Duran Farah told VOA’s Harun Maruf told VOA that he saw “many people injured.”
The Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for the attack that began in mid-afternoon with an explosion outside a bank and a suicide bombing in the hotel lobby.
Survivors say gunmen wandered through a cafe, gunning down people as they sat at tables.
The hotel and shops were a scene of blood, broken glass, smoke, and smoldering cars.
Farah said that he and some colleagues were entering the complex at the time of the attack.
“A loud explosion happened at the gate. Next there was shooting, an exchange of fire, a lot of fire, and we see people rushing and running around in every direction,” he said. He and his colleagues escaped by running down an alleyway.
The DusitD2 hotel and shops are in an upscale Nairobi neighborhood that is popular with American, European, and Indian tourists, although exactly who was targeted and why is unclear.
The militant Islamic al-Shabab staged several previous attacks in Kenya, including the September 2013 assault on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, that left 67 dead.
The militants targeted Kenya after Kenyan forces entered Somalia in 2011 with al-Shabab as their target.
Tuesday’s attack comes one day after a Nairobi court said three men accused aiding the Westgate attack will be put on trial.
A State Department spokesperson tells VOA the U.S. embassy in Nairobi is closely watching the situation and working with Kenyan authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens are among the casualties.
The State Department says the U.S. embassy “has actively offered assistance to local authorities.”