'Terrorists' blamed for shoot-out in Nairobi mall

Gunmen stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi yesterday, killing at least 15 people, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.

The Somali militant group al-Shabaab has threatened to strike the Westgate mall, popular with the city's expatriate community, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility from any group. Al-Shabaab said it had no comment on the attack.

Police helicopters circled overhead as armed police shouted: "Get out, get out!" Scores of shoppers fled the building in panic.

Smoke poured out of one entrance and witnesses said they had heard grenade blasts.

Others said they saw about five armed assailants storm the mall in what appeared to be an attack rather than an armed robbery.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard two hours after the shooting started as police combed the building, hunting down the attackers shop by shop. Some local television stations reported hostages had been taken, but there was no official confirmation of this.

"They don't seem like thugs. This is not a robbery," said Yukeh Mannasseh, who was on the mall's top floor when the shooting started.

"It seems like an attack. The guards who saw them said they were shooting indiscriminately."

One witness who identified himself only as Taha said he heard the screech of brakes, followed moments later by an explosion and then sustained gunfire from the ground floor.

Another survivor said the man who shot him appeared to have been a Somali.

Some shoppers ran up stairs and escalators and hid around the mall's cinema complex. The police found one terrified group hiding in a toilet on the first floor.

At least two dozen wounded were wheeled out on stretchers and shopping trolleys. Many of the victims had multiple light wounds, apparently from flying debris. Others walked out, some with bloodied clothing wrapped around wounds.

The Kenyan Red Cross reported that at least 15 people had been killed and more casualties were still inside the complex.

"The casualties are many, and that's only what we have on the outside," said spokesman Abbas Guled. "Inside there are even more casualties and shooting is still going on."

Kenya blames al-Shabaab and its sympathisers for a string of shootings, bombings and grenade attacks against churches and the security forces since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia to help battle the al-Qaeda-linked militants two years ago.

Al-Shabaab has previously threatened to launch strikes on Nairobi's tower blocks and soft targets, including nightclubs and hotels known to be popular with Westerners in the capital.

"I personally touched the eyes of four people and they were dead. One of them was a child," said a former British soldier at the scene. "It's carnage up there."

Asked whether the attack was a robbery, one paramilitary officer said: "No, terrorist."

Police cordoned off the roads surrounding the mall in central Nairobi's Westlands neighbourhood.