DHAKA: Gunmen have opened fire inside a shopping centre in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Armed police are exchanging fire with gunmen at the Westgate centre in the Westlands district, one of the city’s most exclusive shopping malls.

Nairobi police chief Benson Kibue told media the gunmen were trying to rob a shop within the mall when the shootout began.

Panicked shoppers fled the building. At least two people are wounded.

The Reuters news agency reports one witness as saying they have seen five bodies, according to the BBC.

A number of grenades were thrown inside the centre, reports say.

BDST: 1657 HRS, SEPT 21, 2013
RoR/RIS