This archive report was first published on 20 December 2019.
On January 15, 2019, a series of explosions and gunshots shook the Dusit luxury hotel and complex in Westlands, Nairobi, sending shockwaves across the city.
As the news broke, tweets from eyewitnesses and those who had heard the gunshots started pouring in, with Aggie Assimwe Konde's desperate plea for help standing out: '14 Riverside under massive attack. Gunshots all over, someone out there please help. Thousands of lives in danger.'
Ms. Konde, who worked at Msingi offices opposite the hotel, kept the Nation informed about her ordeal until she was rescued later that night.
Within minutes, the newsroom switched to breaking news mode, with uncertainty surrounding whether the upscale Dusit complex was under a terrorist attack or a robbery.
Officers from the nearby Australian embassy were the first to respond to the gunshots and confirm that it was a terror attack.
Earlier, a grey Toyota car had tried to force its way into the complex, prompting police officers to deflate its tyres. The car's occupants then walked on foot to the first building while shooting at anyone in sight.
An explosion was then heard, which turned out to be the work of a suicide bomber named Mahir Khalid Riziki.
Mr. Riziki was a Kenyan homegrown terrorist who had been recruited five years earlier from Majengo in Mombasa and taken to Somalia for training.
He re-entered Kenya two weeks before the attack with the help of Fawaz Ahmed Hamdun, another homegrown terrorist who was arrested in Mombasa nine months after the attack.
After coming back, Mr. Riziki linked up with the Dusit D2 attack leader, Ali Salim Gichunge, alias Idris, alias Faruk, in Guango estate, Muchatha, Kiambu.
Mr. Gichunge, who did not cut the image of a militant, was an amiable man easily recognisable by a denim cap he regularly wore.
He kept the company of a light-skinned woman, Violet Kemunto Omwoyo, who is believed to have escaped to Somalia hours before the attack and remains the most wanted woman in Kenya.
While the attack bore the hallmark of an Al-Shabaab operation, Mr. Gichunge, Ms. Omwoyo, Mr. Riziki, Mr. Hamdun, and others involved in planning it were all Kenyans.
Security think tank Combating Terrorism Centre noted in its July bulletin that the Dusit attack represented a milestone in Al-Shabaab's ambition to become a genuinely regional jihadi movement.
The government performed exceptionally well during the Dusit raid, with the rescue operation being well-executed.
Within minutes of the first gunshots and explosions, specialised units led by the Recce Squad were on site helping to evacuate people as others combed buildings from floor to floor.
They were assisted by security officers attached to various embassies, including the US, the UK, and Australia.
Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti was the first senior security official at the scene.
After 19 hours, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the siege was over, with 21 people dying and 700 being rescued.
