Kenyan security forces were locked in a fierce final battle with Islamist gunmen inside an upmarket Nairobi shopping mall today after huge explosions and heavy gunfire echoed from the complex.
Thick black smoke billowed from the Westgate mall as Kenyan officials said the more than two-day-long siege -- in which the gunmen have massacred at least 62 people and taken dozens more hostage -- was close to being resolved.
"We think the operation will come to an end soon," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told reporters camped outside the vast part Israeli-owned complex, which was popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates.
"We are in control of all the floors," he said. "The terrorists are running and hiding in some stores... There is no room for escape."
Lenku said most hostages had been freed, without giving specific numbers.
At least 11 Kenyan troops were wounded in today's gun battles, the army said.
Plumes of smoke continued to dominate Nairobi's skyline as night fell on the third day, although the interior ministry said the fire was under control.
The Kenyan Red Cross said at least 63 people were recorded missing, thought to include hostages as well as those possibly killed or still hiding. Around 200 people were wounded, officials said.
Three gunmen were also killed in the fighting and several wounded, while police said they had arrested more than 10 people for questioning.
Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents have claimed the attack, which began midday on Saturday, when the gunmen marched into the complex, firing grenades and automatic weapons and sending panicked shoppers fleeing.
Kenyan army chief Julius Karangi said the gunmen were of different nationalities. Many foreign fighters, including Somalis with dual nationalities, are members of the Shebab force.
"They are from different countries. We have sufficient intelligence this is global terrorism," Karangi said.
Lenku denied that any of the insurgents were women.
"All the terrorists are men," he said, noting: "Some of them had dressed like women."
Shebab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned that the hostages would "bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen" -- signalling that hostages were being used as human shields.
