American Killed in Terrorist Attack on Kenyan Hotel

Update: January 15, 2019 at 7:50 a.m. ET

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said at least 14 people were killed in Tuesday’s attack on the DusitD2 hotel complex, including an American working in Nairobi.

According to The Associated Press, security forces in Kenya announced that all buildings within the complex had been secured and all of the attackers were dead. The United States Department of State confirmed an American had been killed.

A report from ABCNews.com revealed the U.S. citizen killed was 40-year-old Jason Spindler, the founder and managing director I-DEV International, a San Francisco-based strategy and investment advisory firm.

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Update: January 15, 2019 at 3:45 p.m. ET

Local news outlets are reporting at least five people were killed and at least 15 have been injured in the terrorist attack on the DusitD2 hotel complex, but Kenyan Special Forces have managed to secure most of the buildings in the area.

One suspect was in custody and the remaining assailants were still inside Nairobi’s 14 Riverside Drive complex.

According to the New York Times, one of the attackers was a suicide bomber who detonated an explosion in the lobby of the seven-story hotel, while an unspecified number of other extremists with grenades and guns attacked people inside.

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Update: January 15, 2019 at 11:15 a.m. ET

The Somalia-based extremist group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack on a luxury hotel in Nairobi on Tuesday. The group says its members were still fighting at the hotel complex, which included bars, restaurants, banks and offices.

According to The Associated Press, several people have been transported from the scene via ambulance, but no further information was provided about possible injuries or deaths. Witnesses claim to have seen at least two bodies.

Al-Shabab was also the terrorist group that took credit for the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, just a short distance from the DusitD2 hotel. In the previous attack, extremists killed 67 people in a days-long siege.

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A hotel complex located in in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi was attacked Tuesday.

According to BBC.com, witnesses claim at least two explosions were heard near the complex in the Westland district of Nairobi, which is the site of the Dusit hotel and several office buildings.

Four armed men were seen entering the complex and shots were reported.

Local authorities arrived on the scene to find cars in the parking lot on fire. Police have also closed and evacuated people from the surrounding area and are working to rescue those left inside the complex.

The leader of Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal investigations George Kinoti was at the scene to lead the operation.

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“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 witness nearby told Reuters.

This is a breaking story and updates will be provided as news surfaces.

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