As we continue to gather more details about the deadly Dusit D2 Hotel Explosion, we have managed to gathered several images from reporters and eyewitnesses on the ground.
According to Investigative Journalist Allan Namu, who happened to be around the 14 Riverside Drive when the shooting started, the attack happened after gunmen forced their way into the hotel.
The bombed two cars along the gate and started shooting. Several people were rushed from the scene. One man came out covered in blood as nearby university students were evacuated.
‘I just started hearing gunshots, and then started seeing people running away raising their hands up and some were entering the bank to hide for their lives,’ a woman working in a neighbouring building said. She also heard two explosions, she said.
Nairobi police commander Philip Ndolo had earlier said they had cordoned off the area around Riverside Drive, where the dusitD2 hotel is located, due to a suspected robbery.
But police are not ruling out a militant attack, police spokesman Charles Owino told Citizen Television. ‘We have to go for the highest incident that could take place. The highest incident we have is a terror (attack),’ he said.
The Elite RECCE Squad police officers are already on the ground and trying to take control of the situation.
The attack immediately reminds many Kenyans of the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi in 2013, when al-Shabab extremists burst into the luxury shopping center, hurling grenades and starting a days-long siege that left 67 people dead.