Kenya Mall Massacre Gunmen Are Named

Kenya Mall Massacre Gunmen Are Named

Four of the gunmen involved in the Kenya mall attack have been named, as police say the number who took part is fewer than first thought.

A Kenyan military spokesman gave their names as Abu Baara al Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khatab al Kene and a man known only as Umayr.

The men all died in the attack that began on September 21, say officials.

Al Qaeda-linked Somali-based militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the gun and grenade assault in retaliation for Kenya's military operations inside Somalia.

Al Sudani, from Sudan, was the leader of the group inside the mall and had been trained by al Qaeda, said Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir.

He was described as "an experienced fighter and sharpshooter".

Nabhan, a Kenyan of Arab origin, was born in Mombasa and travelled to Somalia with his uncle at the age of 16, said the spokesman.

The third attacker, al Kene, is said to be Somali from the capital Mogadishu, and is linked to al Shabaab Islamist militants, Maj Chirchir said.

The other names of the fourth attacker, Umayr, as well as his nationality and history were "not yet identified", he said.

Al Kene and Umayr are known members of al Hijra, a Kenyan extremist group affiliated with al Shabaab, according to Matt Bryden, former head of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia.

At least 67 people were killed in September's assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre.

New video has also emerged showing the four named gunmen during the siege.

It shows the attackers walking through a storeroom in the mall and searching other adjacent rooms.

It is understood that the CCTV pictures captured the gunmen mid-way through the assault - as many of the victims remained terrified and trapped inside the mall.

Kenya's government initially said 10 to 15 attackers were involved in the assault, but police now believe no more than six people took part.

"From what we have now that is coming out of the investigation, the number of attackers was between four to six," police chief David Kimaiyo told Kenyan television station KTN.

"None of them managed to escape from the building after the attack," he said.

Mr Kimaiyo also confirmed that wanted British "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite - reported to have been one of the attackers - was not involved.

He said: "On Samantha we have also established that she was not part of the attackers in the building. There was no woman."

Al Shabaab has promised more attacks inside Kenya unless the country's troops are withdrawn, but Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to continue the military mission inside Somalia despite the mall attack.

Mr Kenyatta ordered a commission of inquiry into the attack. The Red Cross says a further 39 people are still unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, Somali al Shabaab militants have claimed foreign forces raided one of its bases in the early hours of Saturday and attacked a house.

Forces landed on the beach at Barawe -110 miles south of Mogadishu - and a gunfight ensued, a spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told the Reuters news agency.

Sky's correspondent Alex Crawford said she had spoken to a "high-level source" in Somalia who said he believed it was carried out by American forces.