Kenyan police: suicide bomber involved in Nairobi attack

Security forces surround the Dusit hotel compound, where gunmen are holding out, in Nairobi, Kenya January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet said a suicide bomber had been involved in an attack on a Kenyan hotel on Tuesday.

"That (attack) began with an attack at I&M bank with an explosion that targeted three vehicles in the parking lot and a suicide bomb," he said.

Police have secured six floors out of seven at the Dusit D2 hotel in the complex that militants attacked, he said. A Reuters reporter at the scene said there was a heavy outbreak of gunfire while the police chief was speaking at a separate location.

(Reporting by John Ndiso; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Kevin Liffey)