Military says most hostages are free Troops launch ‘final assault’ on Nairobi mall where 30 hostages are held.

Kenya’s military said last night it had freed most hostages at a shopping mall in Nairobi, where at least 68 people were killed in an attack claimed by Somalia’s Islamist militant group al Shabaab.

“Most of the hostages have been released, and the Kenya Defence Forces has taken control of most parts of the building,” Kenyan military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna told the television station KTN. He did say how many hostages had been held or freed.

The carnage in and around the four-storey building, where heavily-armed fighters opened fire on weekend shoppers on Saturday lunchtime, claimed at least 68 lives with 175 people injured. That toll, which rose steadily throughout yesterday, was expected to climb higher.

Security forces search for gunmen at Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, at the weekend. Photograph: Tyler Hicks/New York Times service.

US support

Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, who lost a nephew in the attack, promised to punish those behind it “swiftly and painfully,” and said Kenya “would not relent on the war on terror”.

US president Barack Obama last night called Kenyatta to offer condolences, and US support in bringing the perpetrators to justice .

The attackers have so far refused any attempts at negotiation, but an al-Shabaab spokesman demanded that Kenya withdraw its troops from Somalia, where they have been fighting Islamist militants since 2011.

“If Uhuru wants peace from us, he should withdraw his troops from Somalia,” spokesman Abu Musab said.

The likely reason why the attackers chose Westgate became apparent yesterday as one embassy after another confirmed some of its citizens had died in the assault.

Three BritonsDavid Cameron confirmed three Britons had died, and said: “We should prepare ourselves for further bad news.”

France said two of its citizens, both women, had died. Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper said two Canadians had died, one of them a diplomat.

The US government said the wife of one of its citizens working for the US Agency for International Development had been killed.

Security sources said there were at least 10 attackers, including one woman, but there could have been as many as 15. There was mounting concern that some of the attackers may have escaped the scene on Saturday when as many as 1,000 people were evacuated or escaped amid chaotic scenes.

Yesterday began with a barrage of gunfire at 7am local time as Kenyan soldiers attempted to storm their way into the ground-floor entrance to the mall’s largest shop, the Nakumatt supermarket.

One of the soldiers who took part in the attack said that two of Kenyan soldiers had been killed.