The second
police officer said that at one point they had been sure the attackers
had been neutralised after a long period without shooting, however
gunfire resumed again after 02:00.
Further explosions and gunfire
were heard shortly before dawn, with no official word on how many people
were still trapped inside.
"There is a floor where they are
shooting from, we still believe there are people there," he said, after
reports that a large number of people had fled upstairs.
'Very
confident' attackers
Kenyan
police chief Joseph Boinnet said the attack began with an explosion
targeting three cars in the parking lot and a suicide bombing in the
foyer of the Dusit hotel.
As the explosion and gunfire rang out in
the leafy Westlands suburb, hundreds of terrified office workers
barricaded themselves in the complex while some fled.
"We have no
idea what is happening. Gunshots are coming from multiple directions,"
said Simon Crump, an employee at an international firm who was hiding
with his colleagues.
Crump was among a first wave of people
evacuated from the office buildings surrounding the Dusit hotel, after
an hour of sustained gunfire.
A number of heavily-armed foreign
forces, who appeared to be from embassies based in Nairobi, were at the
scene alongside Kenyan security officers.
One survivor rescued
from the building told a local television station the attackers were
"very confident; they were people who knew what they were doing".
