Death Toll In Kenya's Hotel Attack Rises To 21 - Police

Fakhir Rizvi Published January 17, 2019 | 01:57 AM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) The death toll in Tuesday's terror attack on the Dusit Hotel in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi has increased to 21, Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, militants stormed the Dusit hotel complex in the Kenyan capital. The country's law enforcement agencies have classified the assault as a terrorist attack. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said earlier on Wednesday that the hotel attack had claimed the lives of 14 civilians, and that all the attackers had been killed as a result of a special operation.

"We wish to inform that, as of this evening ... six other bodies were found at the scene and one police officer succumbed very suddenly to his injuries," Boinnet told reporters, as quoted by the Daily Nation newspaper.

Islamist militant group Al Shabaab, which operates mainly in neighboring Somalia, has claimed responsibility for the gun-and-bomb attack. Al Shabaab has pledged allegiance to the al-Qaeda terror group (outlawed in Russia).