Another one, this time at 14 Riverside - a fairly upmarket building with a hotel (Dusit), banks and office space. Al Shabaab most likely, and again the official response has been utterly fucking woeful. The minister stated at a press conference that the building had been secured and all people were evacuated, while gunfire could be heard in the distance. Anyway - apparently 15 killed, along with the 6 attackers. Four of my Sunday morning volleyball group have offices there, and were evacuated fairly quickly, but a colleague of theirs was killed. Also, a Kenyan who played football for a rival club was also killed. Don't hold your breath for an investigation - it will probably follow a process similar to the Westgate attack in 2013, where defence forces destroyed evidence of industrial levels of theft before they blew the building up. I'm fine - I'm cycling to work to avoid the almost certain traffic jams, and I have plenty of tea and milk, though I do need to pick up some washing powder on the way home.
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Thanks for posting this.
I was was worried about you and yours.
It does sound very much like Westgate II. Is there a faction in the government that tolerates Shabab? -
In the absence of reliable information, conspiracy theories abound. I heard recently that certain government agencies are running short of UN funds, hence the recent activity. Another widely believed rumour is that the president's family also bought Westgate mall after the attack, so there is always someone putting two and two together. My feeling is that there are lots of vulnerable targets with pisspoor security infrastructure and that it's inevitable that attacks will happen. Proximity to Somalia and the radicalisation of young disaffected Kenyan Somali youth is also a concern, as is the brutality that Somali communities receive near the border (which drives the response). Kenya is a favourite outpost of most European states and agencies, because of perceived stability, but it's not far off going completely tits up.
I'm off to Tanzania in March - much safer....Comment
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Seems that the American death in this attack is someone a few of my friends have worked with in the past.Comment
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