By Pascal Oparada, Social Media/Tech Reporter
The Somali Islamist group has attacked a Kenya hotel, killing one and injuring an unspecified number of people, Reuters reports.
The gunmen blasted their way into the hotel and an office complex in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi on Tuesday sending workers fleeing for their lives and others cowered under tables and desks.
Hospital officials confirmed one dead and eight injured in the attack at the upscale Riverside Drive Complex.
“The main door of the hotel was blown open and there was a human arm in the street severed from the shoulder,” said Serge Medic, the Swiss owner of a security company who ran to the scene to help civilians when he heard of the attack from his taxi driver.
According to Medic, there was an unexploded grenade at the lobby of the hotel and a severed arm laying on the street.
Eyewitnesses said they saw two armed men with scarves on their head and bandoliers of bullets, Medic told Reuters, as gunfire echoed in the background, more than two hours after the attack began.
Kenyan television has appealed for blood donations from citizens to help the injured.
According to Reuters, Al Shabaab says its attacks in Kenya are revenge for Kenyan troops stationed inside Somalia which has been riven by civil war since 1991.
The Kenyan troops, concentrated in the south, originally went into Somalia to try to create a buffer zone along the border. They are now part of an African Union peacekeeping force supporting the weak U.N.-backed central government.
Kenya has been the target of terrorist attack by Al-Shabaab who claims the country is aiding the UN-backed government in Somalia.
In Septemeber 2013, the terrorist organization attacked West Gate Mall frequented by foreigners in the Kenyan capital, killing scores and injuring an unspecified number of people.
On April 3, 2015, Al-Shabaan struck Garissa University College in Kenya killing 148 people and injuring about 79 others. The gunmen took over the 700 students, freeing Muslims and killing those who were identified as Christians.
