British nationals are "undoubtedly" caught up in the deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall and diplomats are trying to obtain full details of any casualties, Foreign Secretary William Hague said today.
Hague said the government's emergencies committee COBRA had convened to discuss the attack in the Kenyan capital, and a special diplomatic response team had been sent to beef up the consular staff there.
Hague said Britain condemned the "particularly callous, cowardly and brutal attack", while saying that the claim of responsibility by Somalia's Shebab militant movement had not yet been confirmed.
"There are undoubtedly British nationals caught up in this so we should be ready for that," Hague said in a televised statement following the attack, in which police say 30 people have been killed.
"It is a fast moving situation, it is still going on, we don't have sufficiently precise details to say anything more about that at the moment."
He added that the British High Commission staff "are working very hard on this, trying to identify or account for British nationals who may have been caught up in this.
