WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, issued the following statement on the attack at a shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya. According to news reports, as of 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, at least 68 people have died and another 175 have been injured in the attack, and at least 30 hostages continue to be held. Four Americans were hurt and the wife of a foreign service national working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was killed in the attack. Al Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group based in Somalia, has claimed responsibility.

"My deepest condolences go out to the families of those affected by this cowardly act of senseless violence against innocent civilians in Nairobi, including American citizens who were hurt in the attack. It is a heartbreaking reminder that the threat of terrorism knows no political border and respects no moral boundary. Kenya is an important ally and regional security partner, playing a vital role in breaking al Shabaab’s recent stranglehold on Somalia. Kenyans are a strong people, united by their sense of community, morality, and respect for human life. This attack may shake their spirit, but not their resolve. I pray that this siege comes to an end soon, and that those who waged this brutal attack are held accountable for their crimes."

Senator Coons will chair a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on October 8 in Washington to examine security and governance challenges in Somalia, including ongoing international operations to degrade the threat posed by al Shabaab, which controlled much of the country prior to last year’s Kenyan-led military intervention.

Kenya was also the site of one of the worst terrorist attacks ever against an American embassy — the August 1998 al Qaeda bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, which killed 212 and wounded 4,000. 

Senator Coons studied at the University of Nairobi for a semester in 1984 and was last there leading a Congressional delegation in May 2012.