Nineteen people still missing two days after a Somali militant attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex that killed 21 people are now accounted for, the Kenyan Red Cross said on Thursday.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Wednesday evening that a 20-hour siege had ended with security forces killing all the Somali militants who had stormed the hotel complex, forcing hundreds of people into terrifying escapes.
Late on Wednesday, the Red Cross had said it had yet to account for 19 of 94 people it had been tracing. “All 94 cases have been closed positively as of (now),” it said in a statement at 12:30 p.m. (0930 GMT) on Thursday, giving no further detail.
Press Release – Updated pic.twitter.com/Bl4OHcTr96
— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) January 16, 2019
Al Shabaab, a Somalia-based al Qaeda affiliate fighting to impose strict Islamic law, said it carried the assault on the upscale dusitD2 compound over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Kenya, the East African hub for multinational companies and the United Nations, became a frequent target for al Shabaab after Kenya sent troops into neighbouring Somalia in 2011 to try to create a buffer zone along its border.