Photo Credit: Sam Stearman / Quadell / Wikimedia
Nairobi cityscape

The U.S. State Department has confirmed the identity of an American Jewish businessman who died Tuesday in a radical Islamic terror attack on a luxury hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya.

Jason Spindler, one of the casualties of the attack, was the CEO of a consulting firm that had an office in the DusitD2 luxury hotel complex in the upscale Riverside section of Nairobi.

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The Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab radical Islamist terrorist group meanwhile blamed Israel for their actions: the group said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency that the attack was “a response” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.

According to a relative, Spindler was a survivor of the “9/11″ Al Qaeda attack on America on September 11, 2001. On Tuesday, he was holding a meeting in his office when operatives from the Al-Shabab Somali terrorist group broke down the door and opened fire.

This time, he didn’t make it: Spindler was among at least 21 victims who were killed by the radical Islamist terror group, along with a British national, 11 Kenyans and more victims who have yet to be identified. “Many more” were wounded, according to Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Officials said 700 other people were evacuated from the complex during the 12-hour siege. At least five terrorists were identified and killed, according to Kenyan police chief Joseph Boinnet, who spoke with AFP news agency. Two others believed to be linked to the siege were arrested in raids on properties on Wednesday, according to AFP.

According to Kenya’s Red Cross, some 19 people are still missing.


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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.