A gun fight inside a shopping centre in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has left at least five people dead, witnesses say.
Police have been exchanging fire with gunmen who stormed the Westgate centre — one of the city’s most exclusive shopping malls.
One witness said masked attackers threw grenades into the building at about midday local time (09:00 GMT).
Dozens of shoppers fled. At least four people are wounded. A number of others are trapped inside.
Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue told AP news agency that the gunmen had been trying to rob a shop within the mall when the shooting began.
Dutch embassy employee Rob Vandijk told AP that he had been eating at a restaurant in the centre when gunmen threw hand grenades inside the building.
He said machine-gun fire then rang out, and people dropped to the ground.
Shopping centre security guards used shopping trolleys to wheel out several wounded children and at least one man, AP reports.
“The gunmen tried to fire at my head but missed. There are definitely many casualties,” Sudjar Singh, who works at the shopping centre, told AFP.
