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Kenya Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed told US PBS network that one of the militants was a British woman
A British woman is thought to be among militants who killed at least 62 people at a Kenyan shopping centre, the country's foreign minister has said.
Amina Mohamed said the woman had "done this many times before" and "two or three" Americans were also attackers.
Earlier, Kenya's interior minister said all of the militants were men, although some may have been dressed as women.
Six British nationals are confirmed dead in the attack on the Westgate centre in Nairobi.
The Foreign Office (FCO) said the next of kin of the six had been informed and were being offered consular support.
The presence of westerners amid the Somali jihad is by no means as extensive as it has been in Pakistan or Afghanistan - but the path is similar: radicalisation begins at home.
The recruits - on evidence before British and Kenyan courts - appear to work in tight-knit units of fellow travellers. Their presence can be most obviously seen in the English-language jihadist social media pumped out of the region.
One of the first British recruits six years ago is suspected of having blown himself up in a suicide attack.
Another rose through the ranks, until he was ultimately killed in a drone strike.
Those who return often find themselves activities subject to surveillance and monitoring.
The government has also used powers to deprive some suspects of British nationality to stop them from ever coming back.
It also said it was aware of the comments by Kenya's foreign minister, but officials have refused to speculate on the identity of any of the perpetrators.
An FCO spokeswoman said: "We continue to liaise very closely with the Kenyan authorities and to support their investigation into this attack."
At a press conference in Pakistan, Home Secretary Theresa May, asked about Ms Mohamed's remarks said: "I'm aware that there have been reports of a British woman being involved, but until we have seen the investigations completed it is not possible to give further details to confirm or deny that issue."
Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by al-Shabab - an Islamist group based in neighbouring Somalia, which is part of the al-Qaeda network.
'Animals'Ms Mohamed's comments have fuelled speculation about the possible involvement in the attack of British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite - the widow of 7 July suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay.
She is known to be in East Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.
Government officials, though, have advised caution when it comes to Ms Lewthwaite's involvement in the attack, saying "it could be her. It could be another western woman, or neither of the above".
Ms Mohamed told the PBS NewsHour programme on Monday: "From the information that we have, two or three Americans [were involved] and I think, so far, I have heard of one Brit... a woman ... and I think she has done this many times before."
The Americans are believed to have been aged about 18 or 19, of Somali or Arab origin and lived in "Minnesota and one other place", she said.
On Tuesday, four days after the attack began, a senior Kenyan police source told the BBC that the police operation at the shopping centre in Nairobi was "over".
It followed a stand-off between the police and military and up to 15 attackers.
The official death toll stands at 62, with more than 170 injured.
A UK man, who lost his young daughter, told the Daily Telegraph she was killed by "animals" who were using "religion as an excuse".
'Bad man'Louis Bawa, of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, said he had spoken to his daughter Jennah, eight, and Kenyan-born wife Zahira on Friday but "didn't get a chance to catch up with them" again.
He said they had gone on a regular Saturday shopping trip to the Westgate centre, but added: "This time they didn't come home."
Architect Ross Langdon, who had British-Australian citizenship, has also been named as one of the UK victims although the Foreign Office is still not confirming identities.
Mr Langdon's company, Regional Associates, issued a tribute to him and said he had died alongside his pregnant partner, Elif Yavuz, a Dutch citizen.
According to the Sun newspaper, a four-year-old British boy, Elliott Prior, from Windsor, Berkshire, was among the survivors of the atrocity.
His mother Amber was reportedly shot in the leg, but was able to escape with Elliott and his sister Amelie, six, after the boy told one of the gunmen: "You're a very bad man."
And the Daily Mail reported that an off-duty British Special Air Services (SAS) soldier who was in the shopping centre at the time of the attack saved at least 100 lives.
The newspaper reported that the unnamed man went in and out of the Westgate centre a dozen times to rescue people.
British nationals concerned about friends or family can contact the Foreign Office on +44 (0)20 7008 0000.
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