Britons caught up in Kenya terror raid

Some British nationals have been caught up in the terror attack that rocked the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Saturday, Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed.

Dozens of men armed with guns and grenades attacked the Westgate Mall, a shopping centre in Nairobi and targeted people indiscriminately, killing at least 39 people and injuring 150 others.

According to media reports the Somali-based al-Shabaab terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The British foreign secretary condemned the attack as “callous and cowardly and brutal”, saying that œthere are undoubtedly British nationals caught up in this”.

A coalition government™s spokesperson also confirmed that Prime Minister David Cameron held a telephone conversation with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The Foreign Office also said it is sending a rapid deployment team to Nairobi to help British nationals there in the aftermath of the attack.

This came after the government’s emergency committee, Cobra, held an emergency meeting on Saturday afternoon and decided to send the rapid deployment team to the area.

Hannah Chisholm, a Briton visiting Nairobi, told the BBC she and 60 others barricaded themselves into a large storeroom.

“We kept running to different places but the shots were getting louder so we barricaded ourselves along with about 60 others into a large storeroom. There were children hiding with us as well as someone who had been shot.

“The gunfire was loud and we were scared but at that point we thought the gunmen were thieves so we assumed they wouldn’t try to reach the storeroom”, she added.

MOL/HE