Ten Indians among 70 killed in Nairobi mall terror

At least 69 people have been killed and over 170 injured in an attack by militants on a shopping mall in Kenya's capital of Nairobi on Sunday.

Among the dead are at least 10 Indians – eight immigrants Gujarat, one employee of a pharmaceutical firm from Chennai, and an eight-year-old boy.

The toll is expected to rise, as the standoff between the Kenyan army and a group of armed men claiming allegiance to the al-Shabab militant group inside the upmarket Westgate shopping mall was continuing till this morning.

Reporters are now saying that they can hear fresh gunfire and explosions from inside the mall.

A BBC report quoted an AFP photographer at the scene as saying that he heard about 15 minutes of fierce gunfire which then subsided. A photographer accompanying the correspondent said troops deployed around the mall were forced to duck for cover, the report added.

Kenyan troops claim to have rescued 'most' of the hostages inside the mall, but around ten people are still believed to be inside, hostage to the gunmen. There is no word yet on the number of people who have been rescued.

Many people did manage to escape amid chaotic scenes at the multi-storey Westgate centre. Owned by an Israeli businessman, the mall has restaurants, cafes, banks, a large supermarket and a cinema.

Westgate was packed with shoppers and people sitting down to lunch on Saturday.On the second floor of the three-story building, near the roof car park, a cooking competition for about 50 preschool-aged children was also under way.

Witnesses sitting outside ArtCaffe on the ground floor said that a group of people armed with assault weapons and dressed in black drove up by the main entrance at about noon local time.

Their exact number is not clear. It is estimated there were between six and 16. Some witnesses say they were masked others describe them as wearing bandanas or with scarves over their faces.

The men, all dressed in black, threw grenades and fired shots. Some people were killed outside the building before the gunmen stormed the mall through the main entrance.

"There was shooting on the ground floor and slowly slowly they were going up and up," a survivor said after escaping.

Surajit Borkakoty was having a coffee with his wife on the second floor, at a food court, when he heard continuous shooting coming from the floors below.

He said he and his wife ran out of the cafe towards the second floor car park - but someone started firing on the rooftop too, so they ran back to the cafe to hide in the kitchens.

Other witnesses trapped inside said the gunshots were continuous and people desperately began looking for hiding places, where many stayed for hours.

Shopping trolleys were reportedly used by security guards to wheel out several of the wounded, including children.