The death toll from an extremist attack on a luxury hotel and shopping complex in Nairobi climbed to 21, plus the five militants killed, police said Wednesday in the aftermath of the brazen overnight siege by al-Shabab gunmen. Two people accused of facilitating the attack were arrested, trend reports citing The Associated Press.
The number of those killed at the DusitD2 complex rose with the discovery of six more bodies at the scene and the death of a wounded police officer, said Joseph Boinnet, inspector-general of Kenyan police. Twenty-eight people were hurt and taken to the hospital, he said.
In a televised address to the nation earlier in the day, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the all-night operation by security forces to retake the complex was over and that all of the gunmen had been killed.
"We will seek out every person that was involved in the funding, planning and execution of this heinous act," he vowed.
The attack by heavily armed extremists using guns and explosives demonstrated al-Shabab's continued ability to strike the capital despite setbacks on the battlefield.
Of the civilian victims, 16 were Kenyan, one was British, one was American and three were of African descent but nationalities not yet identified, police said.
Al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia and allied with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility. The Islamic extremist group also carried out the 2013 attack at Nairobi's nearby Westgate Mall that killed 67 people, and an assault on Kenya's Garissa University in 2015 that claimed 147 lives, mostly students.