NAIROBI — A siege at a luxury hotel complex in Nairobi involving suspected militants is over and all attackers have been “eliminated,” Kenya’s president said Wednesday.
Uhuru Kenyatta said 14 civilians had died and several others were injured in the attack at the Dusit complex in the Kenyan capital, which began Tuesday afternoon.
Somali militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group issued a statement on Wednesday claiming that they carried out the attack in response to the United States' decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
BREAKING: Al-Shabaab statement says Nairobi attack was a response to the “witless remarks” of Pres Trump and his declaration of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, and to the “systematic prosecution of Muslims in Palestine”. Operation was codenamed, “Al-Quds will never be judaized”.
“Kenya was yesterday struck by a gang of criminals who hoped to terrorize our people by committing acts of murder and mayhem,” Kenyatta said in a televised address. “I can now confirm that as of about one hour ago, the security operation at Dusit complex is over and all the terrorists eliminated.”
Kenyatta said Kenya was “grieving as a country, this morning, and my heart and that of every Kenyan goes out to the innocent men and women violated by senseless violence,” he said.
Altogether, more than 700 people were evacuated from the hotel complex between the start of the attack yesterday afternoon and early this morning.