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21 dead in terrorist attack on Kenyan hotel

"We are grieving as a country this morning; my heart, and that of every Kenyan, goes out to the innocent men and women violated by senseless violence," Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

By Darryl Coote
People run for cover during an ongoing gunfire and explosions in Nairobi, Kenya. According to reports, a large explosion and sustained gunfire sent workers fleeing for their lives at an upscale hotel and office complex in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Photo by Dai Kurikawa/EPA
People run for cover during an ongoing gunfire and explosions in Nairobi, Kenya. According to reports, a large explosion and sustained gunfire sent workers fleeing for their lives at an upscale hotel and office complex in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Photo by Dai Kurikawa/EPA

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The death toll in a terrorist attack at an upscale hotel and business complex in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi rose to 21 on Wednesday.

In addition to the 21 dead, 28 people were in injured and 19 remain missing a day after the attack, the BBC reported.

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Tuesday afternoon, five jihadists of the Somali-based terrorist group Al Shabaab carried out a coordinated attack on the five-star DusitD2 hotel, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Near the end of the 19-hour security operation that included the evacuation of 700 people, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation in a news conference that all terrorists had been "eliminated" and those responsible for the attack's funding, planning and execution will be brought to justice.

"We will pursue relentlessly wherever they will be until they are held to account," he said.

Two people connected with the attack have been arrested, Al Jazeera reported.

Kenya has been a target for Al Shabaab since it dispatched its army to Somalia to fight terrorists there, and the attack Wednesday coincided with the third anniversary of the group's attack against the Kenya military camp in El Added, Somalia, and a day after three suspected organizers of the 2013 Westgate Mall attack that left 67 people dead were ruled to stand trial.

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Of the victims, 16 were Kenyan, three remain unidentified, one was British and one was American.

"We are grieving as a country this morning; my heart, and that of every Kenyan, goes out to the innocent men and women violated by senseless violence," President Kenyatta said.

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