Explosion, gunfire at Nairobi hotel, office complex

NAIROBI: A gunfight was under way following a blast at a hotel and office complex in a leafy Nairobi neighbourhood Tuesday afternoon, an AFP reporter and a witness said.

"There was a bomb, there is a lot of gunfire," whispered a man working in the offices in the Dusit Hotel compound, asking not to be named. The blast was heard from AFP´s offices some five kilometres away and a reporter sent to the scene said the gunmen and security forces were exchanging gunfire.

It was not immediately clear whether the incident was a robbery or an attack. "We have an incident on Riverside Drive, and police officers have been dispatched there," said police spokesman Charles Owino.

Flames and plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky from the parking lot of the compound where several vehicles were on fire, with scores of people fleeing the scene, some of them lightly injured.