Kenya’s interior minister says the siege of a shopping mall in the country’s capital, Nairobi, is close to being resolved as three of the attackers on the complex were killed and several others injured in fighting with Kenyan forces.

“We think the operation will come to an end soon,” Joseph Ole Lenku told reporters outside the partly Israeli-owned complex on Monday.

The comments come as Kenyan forces moved in to end the standoff amid huge explosions and a barrage of heavy gunfire out of the complex.

The African country’s troops are battling militants who stormed the Westgate Mall on September 21, killing nearly 70 people and taking hostages.

Lenku further said Kenyan security forces are “in control of all the floors,” adding that some hostages had been freed.

Meanwhile, Kenyan Army Chief Julius Karangi said the militants are from different countries.

According to police, 10 to 15 heavily armed al-Shabab members stormed the mall from two sides on September 21.

Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the assault and warned the Kenyan government to withdraw its troops from Somalia.

“The Christian government of Kenya invaded our country in October 2011 killing many innocent civilians with their military jets,” al-Shabab spokesman, Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, said.

Kenya has more than 4,000 army soldiers in southern Somalia, where they have been battling the al-Shabab fighters since 2011.

The Kenyan troops are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that gets training and equipment from the United States.

On Sunday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged that the assailants would “not get away with their despicable and beastly acts,” noting, “We will punish the masterminds swiftly, and indeed very painfully.”