A Kenyan court has convicted two men for assisting al-Qaeda-linked militants in carrying out a deadly terrorist attack on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi in 2019, which left 21 people dead.
Delivering the verdict on Thursday, Judge Diana Mochache found Hussein Mohammed Abdile and Mohamed Abdi Ali guilty of providing logistical and financial support to the attackers. The two were arrested months after the assault and had pleaded not guilty to the terrorism-related charges.
The attack occurred in January 2019 when gunmen stormed the DusitD2 hotel and business complex in Nairobi, engaging security forces in a siege that lasted more than 12 hours. The al-Shabaab militant group, based in Somalia and affiliated with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility.
While the government announced at the time that all assailants had been killed, it did not specify their number. Surveillance footage from the scene later confirmed the presence of five attackers.
According to prosecutors, Abdile and Ali helped two of the attackers acquire forged identity documents, enabling them to escape from a refugee camp. A third suspect, Mire Abdullahi, was convicted earlier through a plea deal.
Sentencing for the two men is scheduled for next month.
Kenya has suffered repeated attacks by al-Shabaab in retaliation for its military involvement in Somalia. Notable incidents include the 2013 Westgate Mall siege, which killed 67 people, and the 2015 massacre at Garissa University, where nearly 150 students lost their lives.