The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has denied reports an Australian citizen was killed in Tuesday's attack on an upmarket hotel complex in Nairobi.
Earlier, Kenyan media reported a 36-year-old Australian man, visiting his girlfriend, was among the dead. But on Friday morning, DFAT quashed the claims.
"The Australian High Commission in Nairobi has confirmed that an individual reported by some media as an Australian victim of the attack on the DusitD2 hotel complex was not an Australian citizen," a DFAT spokesperson said.
"The High Commission continues to seek further information from local authorities to confirm whether any Australians were affected by the attack."
Somali group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on a Nairobi hotel complex. Source: AAP
Kenyan media reported the supposedly Australian man was in Nairobi to visit his girlfriend and spoke with a woman they claimed was the Kenyan woman.
"An Australian man who was on his first trip to Kenya to visit his university girlfriend was also among the dead," Kenya's The Daily Nation reported on its website.
She rushed to the hotel when she heard of the attack and then received a call from her boyfriend who told her in a hushed voice they had been "marooned by the terrorists".
"The call lasted four minutes before he suddenly hung up. There were gunshots in the background," the website reported.
People flee the hotel targeted in Nairobi Source: AAP
"He is gone forever. He did not even bid me goodbye," the girlfriend was quoted as saying.
Twenty-one people were killed when Islamic militants stormed the hotel with bombs and guns on Tuesday afternoon.
Kenyan security forces ended the attack early Wednesday after a 20-hour operation that rescued hundreds of people and left all five assailants dead.
Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet gave the nationalities of some of those killed in Tuesday's attack, including a US and British citizen.
