Kenya attack: Two Indians among killed, hundreds injured

Two Indians were among at least 59 people killed and nearly 200 injured as Somali Islamist militants, holding unspecified number of hostages at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, continued fierce fight with Kenyan soldiers for the second consecutive day today.

Four Indians, including two women and a girl, were injured in the attack.

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There were conflicting reports about the number of militants with a minister saying there were 10 to 15 heavily armed men while some of the witnesses said they had seen four men in black, their heads covered in scarves.

It is not known how many civilians remain trapped there - either as hostages or hiding from the militants, Kenya's interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said.

As the gunfire continued today, troops have managed to evacuate over 1,000 people from the part Israeli-owned Westgate centre after the masked militants from Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Al Shebab group launched the assault yesterday.

"We still have hostages in the mall, and this makes the operation delicate. We have 59 people who have been killed so far," Lenku said.

Two Indians, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed and four other community members injured in the attack, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said in New Delhi.

While one of the victims 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan was working with a pharma firm, the boy Paramshu Jain was the son of a manager of the local Bank of Baroda branch, he said.

India's mission in Nairboi is in touch with the families of the deceased, the spokesperson said.

There are two Canadians, two French citizens and a South Korean among the foreign casualties. .