Incredible untold story of SAS hero who dodged grenades & bullets in ‘deadly hide & seek’ to stop terrorist bloodbath
FIVE years on from an outstanding act of bravery that saved countless lives, SAS hero Christian Craighead is still officially banned from telling his incredible story.
He wants to tell the world the details of how he single-handedly took on a band of terrorists who brought carnage to a hotel complex in Kenya in 2019.
Twenty-one people died in the shootings and five terrorists were killed.
More may have died, yet for nearly a full day Chris fought a running battle and won — saving more than 150 lives and helping 700 to be evacuated.
Chris, 48, was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his heroism.
He hoped to reveal the true story in a tell-all book that would have been made into an action movie.
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Yet he has been gagged by Ministry of Defence chiefs who took him before a High Court judge.
But today, The Sun can exclusively reveal the full true story of Chris’s astonishing heroism that the military did not want you to read.
Publicity for the book, One Man In, written before the ban, tells how on January 15, 2019, Chris, who spent 28 years in the Army, received a phone call from a friend in Nairobi where they both lived.
The pal told him how the 100-room Dusit Princess Hotel and a next door office block were under attack by a dozen Somali Islamic terrorists.
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SAS man Chris, who had been posted to the city by Britain’s elite regiment, threw his weapons case into his pick-up truck and raced towards the hotel complex.
Horrific aftermath
The unpublished book’s blurb goes on: “For the next 22 hours Chris relied on his nearly three decades of elite military training to win a deadly game of hide-and-seek with a unit of ethnic Somali terrorists who had already detonated one suicide bomb and were intent on killing as many other people as possible.
“A battle of guns, grenades and tactics ensued. One Man In is an unforgettable story of heroism from a special forces soldier who happened to be in the right place at the right time and decided to act.”
Sadly, no one will be able to read Chris’s own account of the bloody battle.
But The Sun has the next best thing.
We have been given a copy of his citation for the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
It reveals for the first time the whole story of the pitch battle at the Dusit hotel.
Based on the evidence of witnesses, it makes gripping reading.
It says: “On 15 January 2019, a suicide bomber walked into a busy Nairobi hotel complex and killed a number of diners in an open-air restaurant, including a US and a UK citizen.
“At the same time, four terrorists armed with automatic rifles and hand grenades entered the complex, intent on murdering civilians.
“Christian Craighead (not his real name) who was in Nairobi as a liaison officer to Kenyan Special Forces, responded decisively to a call for help.
“He arrived at the scene 30 minutes later to find chaos and carnage: The horrific aftermath from the suicide detonation, screams from stunned victims, sporadic gunfire and no security forces present. Chris headed to the restaurant and entered alone. He immediately found many victims wounded and too terrified to move.
“He began shuttling them, in some cases dragging them, to safety, his actions encouraging nearby security guards, who were initially too scared to join him.
“After saving multiple survivors he ran alone to clear a nearby building, bullets hitting the ground around him as he crossed the open ground.
“With no care for his own safety, Chris cleared a series of rooms, gathering around 150 survivors and helping them escape. Leading an ad hoc team of a foreign security guard and two Kenyan police officers, Christian led the clearance of a 13-storey car park, securing the area and rescuing more survivors.
“At this point Chris thought his role in this incident was coming to an end and sought out the Kenyan commander to pass on the information he had gathered.
“Unexpectedly, the Kenyan commander asked, ‘Can you lead my men?’. Chris agreed without hesitation. Leading Kenyan troops from the front, he cleared a large five-storey office block and rescued around a further 50 survivors. By now the terrorists had moved into the eight-storey hotel in the centre of the complex. Chris entered the hotel and joined a team of specialist police officers located on floor seven.
“For the next 13 hours Christian directed all efforts to accelerate the end of the siege whilst coming under repeated gunfire and grenade attacks.
“As morning approached, the two terrorists threw grenades trying to break out and assault Chris’s team on floor seven.
“Anticipating this, Chris warned the team and as the terrorists moved from cover, both attackers were killed.
“After fighting throughout the night, Chris and the team cleared the rest of the hotel — and wrongly thought the incident was over.
“In the hotel lobby Chris was met by more Kenyan police, who declared that they were yet to clear the basement, where they knew that two further terrorists were hiding.
“After having fought through the night, many of the Kenyan police officers were reluctant to proceed.
Alone and outnumbered
“First to volunteer, Chris inspired the remainder of the team to join him and they moved off for the final phase.
“Almost immediately after moving off, Chris found himself leading the team through a smoke-filled, confusing and complicated warren of storerooms, offices and flooded service corridors. The team eventually came under fire from the terrorists, a stand-off following for the next hour with the last two terrorists protected by a barricade.
“Eventually, efforts by Chris and the Kenyans killed the final terrorists, thus bringing the attack to an end.
“Initially alone and outnumbered, repeatedly under fire and alongside unfamiliar Kenyan police officers, Christian Craighead showed exceptional gallantry and leadership.
“For over 19 hours he inspired those around him, helped many victims to safety, and his example drove the Kenyan response.
“Twenty-one people died in this brutal attack yet the number would be higher if not for his actions.”
Under strict rules, Special Forces troops must not discuss their missions in public.
However, former SAS Sergeant Craighead claimed in his court case that the ban imposed on his book by the Defence Secretary was a breach of his human rights to freedom of expression.
He argued that because it told the story of one incident which happened abroad and had been widely reported on, he should be given permission to publish the book.
However, the High Court judge agreed with SAS chiefs and the MoD and said that his book should not hit the shops.
In her judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that national security and protecting the public by keeping SAS tradecraft secret overrode his claim to freedom of speech.
Chris, who now lives in the USA, has also revealed on his Instagram page his disappointment at the way he received his medal.
It was to have been presented by the Queen in 2020 but, because of “flattening the Covid curve”, his appointment with the monarch was cancelled. Instead he was simply handed his gong, in its box, by an anonymous civil servant in a modest office at St James’s Palace.
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Chris refuses to talk about what happened in Nairobi but he has now written The Wrong Wolf, a children’s book about a sheepdog.
He said: “It’s not the book people were waiting for but I’m extremely proud of it.”
