Five terror suspects to be arraigned in court over Westgate mall attack

By Cyrus Ombati

Nairobi, Kenya: Five suspects are to be charged in court in connection with the Westgate Mall terror attack that claimed more than 70 lives.

Police revealed they also plan to issue international warrants to arrest two other suspects who are at large since the September 21 attack.

Director of CID Ndegwa Muhoro revealed the five are principle suspects and were expected in court Tuesday, but they withheld them after receiving new information.

He added their investigations had shown a phone call had been made to Norway during the siege.

One of the suspected attackers has been named as a 23-year-old Somalia-born Norwegian national, Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.

Norwegian tax records show a Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow was born in 1990 and was registered at an address in Larvik, southern Norway, as late as 2009.

Police handling the incident confirmed that officials from Norway were in Nairobi to establish if Dhuhulow participated in the attack.

Muhoro said their investigations show that all four of the attackers died.

“The attackers were making calls from the mall and we have so far established a call was made to Norway during the siege,” he said.

Circulating SMS

Mr Muhoro said that Interpol is helping to analyse the bodies to confirm their identities.

He said their probe has revealed an SMS started to circulate among the terrorists on September 17, four days before the attack.

“This SMS was circulating among some people who we now believe were principle suspects in the attack,” he said.

The discovery of the SMS has delayed the arrainment of the suspects, he added.

He made the remarks during a media briefing at the Department of Defence, Nairobi, to state the position of the probe since the attack took place.

The briefing was attended by top security bosses.

Officials had initially said there were 10-15 attackers but so far, according to Muhoro, some of them could have escaped.