Search for explosives continues at Nairobi hotel complex

Bomb disposal experts on Thursday continued the search for potential explosives left over at the luxury hotel and shopping complex in Nairobi where an extremist attack took place Tuesday, claiming at least 21 lives.

Local and foreign forensic experts were seen examining the silver car that the extremists used to gain access to the DusitD2 hotel.

The attack was claimed by al-Shabab, a Somalia-based Islamist extremist group.

Security efforts in the area were increased and military police were seen guarding the entrance gates to the complex.

At the Chiromo Funeral Parlour nearby, family and friends of victims gathered to mourn their loved ones.

Red Cross workers were seen assisting those who had just found out that a relative, friend or colleague was killed in the attack.

The death toll from the attack climbed to 21 plus the five militants killed, police said on Wednesday in the aftermath of the brazen overnight siege by al-Shabab gunmen.

Twenty-eight people were hurt.

Two people accused of facilitating the attack have been arrested.

For many Kenyans, the attack revived traumatic memories of a 2013 al-Shabab raid on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall that left 67 people dead - a siege played out over four days that led to sharp criticism of the authorities' response.

Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-aligned extremist group, has killed hundreds of people in Kenya. In its deadliest attack in the country, 147 people were killed at the Garissa University in 2015, mostly students.

The latest carnage demonstrated al-Shabab's continued ability to carry out spectacular acts of bloodshed despite a dramatic increase in US airstrikes against it under President Donald Trump.