NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS

An injured woman cries for help after gunmen stormed the Westgate shopping mall.
Al Qaeda-linked terrorists brought jihad to the mall Saturday, massacring at least 39 people during a stampede in a lavish Kenyan shopping center hosting a kids’ event.

The grenade-tossing, gun-toting militants wounded more than 300 others in the vicious assault — including four Americans — but made a point of allowing Muslims to escape the high-end Nairobi mall before the carnage continued.

People escape from a fire allegedly started by gunmen inside the Westgate Shopping Mall.

“The gunmen told the Muslims to stand up and leave,” said survivor Elijah Kamau. “They were safe, and non-Muslims would be targeted.”

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said members of his family were among the victims in what was the African nation’s worst terror attack in 15 years.

An injured woman cries at Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi on Saturday after militant gunmen stormed the shopping center and killed at least 39 people, including children, and wounded more than 300 others.

Wounded children were ferried to safety in shopping carts, while blood-spattered and weeping survivors ran desperately from the shiny Westgate Mall — an Israeli-owned complex often mentioned as a possible terrorist target.

“Get out! Get out!” screamed armed police as helicopters circled above.

Civilians who had been hiding inside during the gun battle race out of the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi Saturday.

Among the dead were two French women and two Canadians, including a diplomat. The wife of a U.S. diplomat working for the U.S. Agency for International Development was also killed, officials said. Her name and nationality were not released.

The dead included children, and the wounded ranged in age from 2 to 78. Local officials feared the death toll was likely to climb.

A police officer tries to secure an area inside the Westgate Shopping Mall.

“The casualties are many, and that’s only what we have on the outside,” said Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Guled.

The State Department confirmed American citizens were among the victims, but it released no other details.

A wounded man cries out with shock in the parking lot of the Westgate Shopping Mall after the massacre.

In a separate statement, a White House spokeswoman said some staff at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya have been “tragically affected” by the attack. No other information was provided.

Soldiers take up positions inside the mall after gunmen stormed in and attacked shoppers with automatic weapons and grenades.

“The perpetrators of this heinous act must be brought to justice, and we have offered our full support to the Kenyan government to do so,” said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.

The militant group al-Shabab announced it was behind the terrorist attack, saying the killings were payback for the 2011 push by Kenyan forces into their homeland of Somalia.

GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS

Armed police search through Westgate shopping mall for gunmen in Nairobi on Saturday.

In a Twitter post, the terrorists described the bloody attack as “the Westgate spectacle.”

Early Sunday morning, more than 12 hours after the start of the assault, the gunmen remained holed up in the four-story mall with an unknown number of hostages.

A customer cries as she is evacuated following a shootout between unidentified armed men and the police at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Saturday.

The imprisoned shoppers were gathered inside a supermarket, officials said. Two groups of Kenyan special forces fighters were also inside the mall as the stalemate stretched for hours.

“There will be no negotiations whatsoever,” al-Shabab tweeted.

Civilians escape an area at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi.

Officials and witnesses said at least five attackers — including one woman — were involved in the bloodletting. They wore vests with hand grenades attached and carried AK-47s as they ran amok.

“We have waged war against the Kenyans in our land,” read another tweet. “Now it’s time to shift the battleground and take the war to their land #Westgate.”

Stunned survivors call for help after terrorists opened fire on civilians at the mall, which had been hosting a children's event Saturday.

The NYPD beefed up security in the city in response to the attack. But Deputy Police Commissioner John McCarthy said “there is no specific threat to the city.”

The midafternoon nightmare began with grenade explosions and the pop-pop-pop of automatic weapons as a terror squad of at least five stormed the upscale mall.

KABIR DHANJI/EPA

A wounded official is wheeled out of the Westgate Shopping Mall after the massacre.

Shoppers began running for their lives, eventually finding refuge in hallways or stairways. One terrified group was found hidden inside a bathroom.

People, some injured, run for cover from the Westgate Shopping Mall after the horrific shootout.

Other shoppers jumped to safety from the mall roof to an adjoining building. The shopping center sits less than 2 miles from the center of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The number of victims multiplied so quickly that a local hospital was soon overwhelmed, forcing rescuers to bring the wounded to a second medical center.

A wounded man is escorted outside after gunmen opened fire in an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi.

“We started by hearing gunshots downstairs and outside,” said Patrick Kuria, a worker at the mall restaurant Artcaffe. “Later, we heard them come inside. Then we saw two gunmen wearing black turbans. I saw them shoot.”

Witness Jay Patel, while cowering on an upper floor at the mall, saw the gunmen take several hostages to a parking garage where some were set free — and others were killed in cold blood.

A soldier moves to take up a position outside an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, where shooting erupted Saturday.

Marco Lui, a Bloomberg News correspondent, was on the mall’s second floor when the terrorists burst inside through the main entrance.

A pair of explosions were followed by blasts of automatic weapon fire and instant horror. They worked their way from the ground floor to the upper levels of the mall.

Medics treat an injured man outside an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.

“We heard a noise from the ground floor and people started running to the parking area on the rooftop,” Lui said. “They were panicking and then the second blast went off, and people were even more panicked.”

Lui and others jumped over a fence on the mall’s roof and landed on a neighboring building. He and a friend were unharmed.

Construction workers run following a shootout between unidentified armed men and the police at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.

The mall is home to more than 80 stores, including outlets for Nike, Adidas and Bose. A movie theater, children’s play area and several restaurants are also part of the facility.

Manish Turohit, 18, survived the mass killing by hiding for two hours inside a parking garage.

Two women hug outside the mall. Witnesses say gunmen also threw a half dozen grenades during the midday attack.

“They just came in and threw a grenade,” he recounted. “We were running, and they opened fire. They were shouting and firing.”

An injured policeman holds on to his wound as his colleague searches the mall.

A police officer tries to secure an area inside the Westgate Shopping Mall.

Civilians escape an area at the mall, where terrorists were targeting non-Muslims.

An image grab taken from AFP TV shows a Kenyan woman crawling out of an air vent, where she had been hiding during the firefight.