Nairobi DusitD2 complex attack

From the 15 to 16 January 2019, a coordinated attack against civilians occurred at the DusitD2 complex in Westlands District, Nairobi, Kenya. The attack began at around 14:30 EAT (UTC+3), shortly after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the center of the complex at a restaurant. Four attackers associated with Harakat Al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen carried out a mass shooting for over 22 hours which left 21 civilians, one Kenyan soldier and all five militants dead.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published through the AS-affiliated Shahada News Agency shortly after the attack, with its external operations branch, the Saleh An-Nabhan Battalion, claiming being responsible.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said that the five militants that carried out the attack were all "eliminated" by security forces following a 19-hour operation led by Kenyan forces.





== Background ==

Kenya has been subject to major terrorist attacks starting from a devastating bombing that hit the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998, followed by the attacks in Mombasa in 2002, the Westgate Shopping Mall Siege in 2013 and the Mpeketoni Attacks in 2014. Kenya had targeted Al-Shabaab during its intervention in the Somali Civil War on behalf of the Federal Government of Somalia and the regional state of Jubaland. The Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has been opposed to Kenyan involvement in the Somali Civil War.





== Location ==

The attack occurred at the 14 Riverside Drive complex in Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. This is an upscale hotel and office complex which hosts the DusitD2 Hotel and the Commission on Revenue Allocation.