The DusitD2 hotel siege in which Islamic militants killed at least 21 people in January was a reaction to Donald Trump’s Israel policy.

According to the BBC, responsibility for the attack in Nairobi was claimed by Somalia-based al-Shabab. Their statement called the attack “a response” to the US president’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there.

A White House National Security Council spokesman responded: “This senseless act is a stark reminder of why the United States remains resolved in our fight to defeat radical Islamist terrorism.”

Al-Shabaab killed 67 people in a 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall, and singled out Christians for execution at Garissa University College where 148 people died in 2015.

Kenya is a majority Christian country.