It is January 15, a typical Tuesday afternoon in Nairobi. It’s warm and partly cloudy. Other than the characteristic vibrancy of city life, it’s a quiet and unremarkable day.
At 14 Riverside Drive, less than five kilometres west of the central business district, life rolls on. But something awful is about to happen that will throw the country into pandemonium and scar the lives of Kenyans forever.
At 2.30 pm, a Toyota Ractis Registration No KCN 340E and another vehicle drive into DusitD2 Hotel complex in Westlands.
Four occupants, wearing headscarves and bearing AK-47 guns, are captured by CCTV cameras advancing into the compound. The quartet announces its arrival with explosions as the men hurl grenades at vehicles in the parking lot, setting them ablaze.
This complex has five buildings housing an upscale hotel, and is home to several local companies and international organisations. Hundreds of people are immersed in their work, unaware of the events unfolding outside.
Once inside, a fifth attacker walks unnoticeably to the Secret Garden restaurant at the lobby of the building. Here, he blows himself up, killing about seven patrons and hotel staff. Multiple others are injured.