KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed a siege in which 14 people were killed was over after the attackers were “eliminated” in a security operation this morning.

The attack at the luxury Dusit hotel in Nairobi was claimed by the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab and ended after a 19-hour stand-off with hundreds of people safely evacuated.

It started at 3pm when it is believed a group of armed men threw bombs at vehicles in the hotel car park before one is understood to have blown himself up in the lobby.

A woman working nearby told Reuters news agency: “I just started hearing gunshots, and then started seeing people running away raising their hands up and some were entering the bank to hide for their lives.”

It is not clear how many attackers were involved however, Kenya’s chief of police Joseph Boinett said there were “five terrorists.”

In a broadcast on state television, Mr Kenyatta warned that those responsible for the attack would be found and punished for the killings.

“We will seek out every person who was involved in the funding, planning and execution of this heinous act. We will pursue them relentlessly wherever they will be until they are held accountable,” he said.

Al-Shabaab is a militant Islamist group based in Somalia which seeks to establish a caliphate in the region. It often makes incursions into Kenya and was responsible for an attack on the Westgate mall in 2013 in which at least 67 people were killed.

Mr Kenyatta said that the government would “deter, disrupt and defeat” terrorism across the country assuring Kenyans and visitors that they were safe.