When Somali militants stormed a luxury hotel compound in Nairobi on Tuesday via bombs and ammunition, hundreds of civilians were forced to flee the chaos and anarchy, many of which decided to barricade themselves inside the site's DusitD2 hotel.
This was followed by the Somalia-based Islamist group called 'al-Shabab' attacking the rest of the site in which one member carried out a suicide bombing. This was before the rest took to the hotel to hold a number of individuals hostage and trigger a 19-hour security operation. During this time Kenyan security forces worked tirelessly to get civilians to safety before an operation to take on the jihadists in the hotel unfolded.
This was a huge operation as the five-star DusitD2 hotel had 101 rooms and is located just minutes from the capital's business district. Despite these complications, the security forces were able to comb through the buildings and secure them all, announcing that the jihadists involved had been "eliminated."
Tragically, despite the brave efforts of all of those involved in stopping the terrorists, 21 have been confirmed dead while a further 19 are still missing. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who have suffered from these recent events.
