A four-year-old British boy survived the Kenya shopping mall attack after telling an armed jihadist ‘you’re a bad man’, according to the boy's uncle who has given an interview to a UK newspaper.

After apparently seeing his mother shot in the thigh, young Elliott Prior is said to have confronted the gunman shouting “you’re a bad man, let us leave”.

Incredibly the gunman in understood to have took pity on Elliott and his six-year-old sister Amelie, giving the pair a Mars bar each and allowing them and their mother to leave the chaotic shopping mall in the middle of the terror attack.

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Elliott’s 35-year-old mother Amber was reportedly able to grab two more children - including a wounded 12-year-old boy whose mother had been murdered – before exiting the shopping mall and taking the children them to safety.

As the group turned to leave, the gunman allegedly called after them saying the jihadists only wanted to kill Kenyans and Americans, not Britons, pleaded with Amber to convert to Islam and begged “please forgive me, we are not monsters.”

In an interview with The Sun, Elliot’s uncle Alex Coutts said: “They had a lucky escape… the terrorists said that if any kids were alive in the supermarket they could leave. Amber made a decision to stand up and say yes”.

He added: “Then Elliot argued with them and called them bad men. He was very brave”.

Dramatic photos of Elliot and Amelie standing outside the mall were beamed around the world following their escape.

Elliot, seen wearing a green “I love New York” t-shirt, was photographed looking scared and holding a Mars bar in each hand, while a traumatised Amelie was pictured wearing a floral dress as a dead body lay at her feet.

Elliot’s story emerged as the Kenyan government declared that its forces were close to achieving success after three days of carnage left at least 62 dead and more than 100 injured.

Further reading:

Hero ex-Marine re-entered mall 12 times to save 100 people

The victims came from around the world. So did their killers

Was wife of 7/7 bomber among attackers?

'All hostages freed' as Kenyan soldiers take control of mall

Kenyans are more united in tragedy’s aftermath

The victims: The architect and his pregnant wife

Video: Amateur footage from Kenya shopping mall attack

Ian Birrell: How to fight al-Shabaab