The kenyan attack

‘You’re a very bad man’: Astonishing moment British boy, four, confronted Kenyan mall gunman… who gave him Mars bars and begged for forgiveness

• The boy and girl had been shopping with their mother
• They were in Nakumatt supermarket when first shots were fired
• The three hid under a cold meat counter before they were found by gunmen
• The mother was shot in the thigh and buttock but agreed to forgive attackers
• The children were then given Mars bars and allowed to go 

A four-year-old British boy caught up in the Kenya mall massacre showed incredible bravery by confronting a marauding gunman who ended up begging for his forgiveness.

Elliot Prior, from Windsor, Berkshire, told one of the terrorists that he was a 'very bad man' as he protected his mother, Amber, who was shot in the leg, and six-year-old sister Amelie.

Astonishingly, the terrorist took pity on them and handed the children Mars bars before telling them: 'Please forgive me, we are not monsters.'

Amazing courage: Four-year-old Elliot Prior and his sister Amelie hold Mars bars next to a dead body outside the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi after being given the chocolate by a gunman who spared their lives

Horror: Their mother, Amber, walks past the body of a man as they escape the Westgate shopping centre

His mother, Amber, told of her family’s terrifying escape from Al Shabaab terrorists who butchered 62 people in the Nairobi shopping centre.

The film producer had been queuing to buy milk in Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Centre when the militants struck.

She hid under a cold meat counter in the Nakumatt supermarket for an hour-and-a-half with her children beneath her before terrorists finally found them and shot her in the thigh.

Elliot's uncle, Alex Coutts, told The Sun: 'They had a lucky escape. The terrorists said if any of the kids were alive in the supermarket they could leave.

'Amber made the decision to stand up and say "yes".'

'Then Elliot started arguing with them and called them bad men. he was very brave.'

Civilians running for cover in the shopping mall after the masked attackers opened fire

After discovering the advertising producer was of French origin, the men began to plead with her and claimed that the Muslim faith ‘was not a bad one’.

‘He told me I had to change my religion to Islam and said “do you forgive us? Do you forgive us?’, the mother told The Independent.

‘Naturally, I was going to say whatever they wanted and they let us go’.

Bizarrely, the terrorists handed the children Mars bars before they fled with two other children, including a 12-year-old boy who had at first refused to leave his dead mother.

The fate of 20 others who had taken refuge under the meat counter is unknown.

The family’s escape is particularly astonishing in light of the indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children throughout the mall after Al Shabaab launched their assault on Saturday.

Witnesses told how terrorists, their faces hidden with Islamic scarves, stormed the shopping mall and started tossing grenades and spraying shoppers with AK-47s.

Two children and a woman hide behind a bar inside the shopping mall in the hope they won't be found by the gunmen

Terrified shoppers fled and hid in storerooms, restaurants and a cinema, with the wounded being carried out in shopping trolleys.

Victims were massacred if they could not recite a verse from the Koran or name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.

With mindless cruelty, they have reportedly cut the hands off the bodies of their victims and burned their faces to try to conceal their identities.

Nationality offered no protection to the French mother and daughter shot dead in the car park outside.

Yesterday, Kenyan security forces launched a massive operation to free those hostages left in Westgate.

A Somali Islamist group linked to Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab has said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia.