NAIROBI WESTGATE SHOOT-OUT KILLS OVER 11 IN KENYA

A number of suspected Somali al-Shabab militants stormed the Westgate shopping centre in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Saturday throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons.

Eleven people have died in a gun battle inside a Nairobi shopping centre, says a senior Kenyan security official.

Mutea Iringo blamed "armed criminals" and said police were in control of a "very serious situation". Officers are going shop to shop to secure the area. The Kenyan Red Cross says 30 died.

Eyewitnesses saw armed men in black entering the Westgate shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out the attack.

On its Twitter feed, the al-Qaeda-linked group said it confirmed it was behind what it called the "Westgate spectacle".

Al-Shabab has carried out a string of attacks in Kenya since 2011, when Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia to fight the militants there.

Some eyewitnesses told AFP news agency they had heard the gunmen speaking Arabic or Somali.

Other witnesses said Muslims were told to leave and that non-Muslims would be targeted.

"They came and said: 'If you are Muslim, stand up. We've come to rescue you," said Elijah Lamau.

He said the Muslims left with their hands up, and then the gunmen shot two people.

The US state department says it has reports that American citizens were injured in what it called "a senseless act of violence".

 

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