As the deadly terror attack carried out by Somali militant group, Al-Shabab spreads across Kenya, the country and other highbrow facilities would have to step up security and surveillance in strategic locations in the East African nation.
The news of another wave of terrorist attack by the extremist ripped through the country’s airwave following repeated sounds of gunfire and explosions.
According to cbc.ca, extremists initially attacked a luxury hotel complex in Nairobi Tuesday afternoon local time, sending people fleeing in panic as explosions and heavy gunfire reverberated through the complex and black smoke rose over the scene.
The compound in the Westlands district of the Kenyan capital, houses the DusitD2 hotel as well as offices.
Details of the Terrorists raid on Dusit2 Hotel in Nairobi are emerging with the apparent lost of life and Injuries.
It is speculated that the Hotels’ Director of Revenue, Dusit International, Bernadette Konjalo lost her life in the siege.
She is an experienced professional in the hospitality industry having worked in different positions in Tribe Hotel and Dusit2 International.
The complex includes the DusitD2 hotel, along with bars, restaurants, banks and offices and is in a well-to-do neighborhood with large numbers of American, European and Indian expatriates.
The co-ordinated assault began with an explosion that targeted three vehicles outside a bank, and a suicide bombing in the hotel lobby that severely wounded a number of guests, said Kenya’s national police chief, Joseph Boinnet.
About eight hours after the siege began, Interior Minister Fred Matian’i said that all of the buildings affected by the attack had been secured and that security forces were mopping up.
“I would like to reiterate that the situation is under control and the country is safe,” he said.
But into the early hours of Wednesday local time, gunfire could still be heard as authorities evacuated about 150 survivors from the buildings, according to a first responder, who said a pregnant woman and the daughter of a former Kenyan politician were among them.
A Kenyan police officer said at least 15 bodies had been taken to the morgue over the course of the day. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed one of the victims was American.
Kenyan authorities have not yet announced whether the attackers are dead, detained or on the run.
Kenya is part of a regional peacekeeping operation that supports the Somali government in its battle against al-Shabab.
In September 2013, according to theguardian.com, al-Shabab gunmen entered the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and targeted shoppers.
During an 80-hour siege at the upscale centre, 67 people were killed.
Two years later, about 147 people, mostly students, were killed in an assault by al-Shabab militants on a university in north-eastern Kenya.
Heavily armed attackers stormed Garissa University early on Thursday, killing two security guards then firing indiscriminately on students.
