“I can now report that we have secured all the buildings that have been affected by these events,” Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said in a statement broadcast on national television. “I can also now report that the country is now secure, that the nation remains calm and that Kenyans and all our visitors are safe and should feel free to continue going about their normal business.”

Mr. Matiang’i also said “we are now in the final stages of mopping up the area and securing evidence and documenting the consequences of this unfortunate event,” but said nothing about fatalities or injuries.

The assault by the Shabab, an Islamist extremist group with ties to Al Qaeda that has carried out many attacks in eastern Africa, came on the eve of a verdict in the trial of three men accused of helping the Shabab orchestrate a deadly assault on a the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi five years ago.