In Kenyan capital Nairobi, an unknown number of hostages are still being held by Islamist gunmen who are locked in a stand-off with security forces. The government's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a situation update posted on Twitter that the number of hostage is still unknown, but they are in several locations. Eye witnesses at the scene said operations by security forces were continuing. Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack.

The UN Security Council condemning in the strongest possible terms the terror attack at Nairobi said, any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation. The UN Chief Ban Ki-moon called the premeditated act against defenceless civilians as reprehensible.

The Indian Mission in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is in touch with the families of Indians who have been killed and injured in a terrorist attack on the shopping mall. MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said in New Delhi that the Mission is providing all medical aid to the four Indian nationals injured in the attack.

He said India fully sympathises with Kenya and extends support to Kenyan government. The spokesperson said, two Indian nationals were killed in the terrorist attack yesterday which has claimed more than 39 lives so far.

The deceased Indian nationals are 40-year-old Sridhar Natarajan and an eight-year-old boy Paramshu Jain. Natarajan, a resident of Tamil Nadu, was working in a local pharmaceutical firm in Kenya while the deceased boy is the son of a local branch manager of the Bank of Baroda.

Expressing shock at the terrorist attack, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj tweeted, the humanity must unite and defeat terror.