The relatively swift end to an attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex highlights improvements in Kenya's counterterrorism capabilities since Somali militants overran a shopping mall in the same neighborhood five years ago.
This time, the authorities flooded the area with elite units, including the paramilitary General Service Unit and its crack Recce squad, along with a new force trained by the United States to respond to emergencies at American facilities.
Still, the death toll might have been higher had it not been for the rapid intervention of some quick-thinking private security personnel before the government teams arrived en masse, security sources who took part in the operation said.