natalie is on assignment. good morning to you. >> good morning. new explosions and gunfire this morning at the shopping mall in kenya where a deadly terrorist siege entered it's third day now. nbc's ron allend morning. >> tamron, a morning of explosions and gun fire here as the kenyan government tries to bring this hostage siege to an end now in the third day. there is a thick cloud of black smoke billowing out of the building of the mall back there that you can perhaps see in the distance. that started after several loud explosions were heard here and six or seven in sequence, and unclear what started the explosions the gunmen militants say they are al shabab and claiming responsibility for this. to start the day, we believed that there were as many as ten people still being held by the gunmen with the same number of aga gunmen in the mall according to the kenyan authorities. we have been seeing more kenyan officials surrounding the mall, and there have been scenes of civilians and journalists taking cover as they were thought to be caught in the crossfire, so morning of explosions and gun fire. the government making the final assault of what they hope is the final assault to end this sit