Details have emerged that two of the Dusit D2 hotel attackers are from Kiambu and Nyeri.
Police are also pursuing a man seen on CCTV having lunch with six of the suspects at Chicken Inn at Oilibya on Limuru Road just hours before the other six attacked the 14 Riverside Drive complex.
Investigators were busy yesterday piecing together details about 26-year-old Eric Kinyanjui, who is said to come from Ngecha Village in Limuru, and Farouk, reported to have been born and bred in Majengo slum in Nyeri.
Police found documents in their pockets that seemed to reveal their identities and were confirming details.
The two were killed yesterday together with three others inside the DusitD2 hotel and forensic experts started to match their fingerprints as teams were dispatched to their villages.
“They converted to Islam recently and we believe they were brainwashed by al Shaabab,” a police officer involved in the investigations told a local daily. The two are believed to have crossed over to Somalia where they joined the terror group and received training.
The attack was executed in a strategy similar to that of the September, 21, 2013, Westgate mall siege that killed 67 people.
According to The Star, seven men, including the six who were killed at Dusit by security officers, were captured on camera having lunch at the Oilibya eatery.
The seven men frequented the place while planning the attack. They are also believed to have conducted several reconnaissance missions of the DusitD2 hotel and complex. They launched their attack a few minutes past 3pm on Tuesday.
Investigators said six of the seven men eating lunch have been accounted for — one blew himself up and five were gunned down — but the seventh one is believed to be on the run.