A former Sussex schoolgirl has described how she was caught up in the terrifying terrorist attack on a shopping centre in Kenya.

Ex-grammar school pupil Hannah Chisholm has revealed how she hid in a storeroom for three hours as gunmen battled around her.

Hannah, 21 wrote on Facebook to her friends that she was safe after news emerged of the terrorist atrocity inside the shopping mall which has resulted in at least 62 deaths.

She described the terror and confusion after gunmen stormed the Westgate Mall, Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday and how she was eventually released.

Hannah, originally from Haslemere, Surrey, was a student at Midhurst Grammar School but is now believed to be living in Nairobi.

She wrote: “I usually hate statuses but just to let everyone know I’m safe after being taken hostage for three hours.

“Were finally released and pray for the people who were killed in this horrible attack.

“It was so scary.

“People had been shot and we were sure they would find us. They have machine guns.

“Managed to hide in a storeroom for a couple of hours 'til we were released but they still have hostages.

“It's too horrible.”

Hannah, who was not available for comment yesterday, said she and 60 others barricaded themselves into a large storeroom.

She previously told the BBC: "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."

Yesterday Kenyan troops were said to be in the final stages of clearing the Nairobi shopping mall stormed by Islamist militants as a sixth Briton was confirmed among the dead.

Police said that three terrorists had been killed and others injured as security forces moved into the Westgate complex in an attempt to bring the three-day stand-off to an end.

Eleven soldiers from the Kenyan Defence Force (KDF) were also wounded in the fighting.

The official Kenyan police Twitter feed reported that more than 200 civilians had been rescued as troops took control of all the floors of the mall.

"Chances of any terrorists sneaking and escaping are very slim. KDF troops have sealed all possible escape routes," it said.

The Foreign Office confirmed that six British nationals were now known to be among the dead - who also included foreigners from France, the Netherlands, South Africa, Ghana, the United States and Canada.

None of the Britons have been identified officially although one has been named in reports as Ross Langdon, who had dual nationality with Australia.

Earlier in London, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee, with David Cameron set to return to the capital to chair a second meeting later.