Kenyan morgue: 2 'boxes' of body parts from mall

[October 18, 2013]  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Charred pieces of bodies, enough to fill two boxes, have been recovered from the part of a Kenyan shopping mall that had collapsed as security forces battled terrorists who invaded the mall, officials said Friday. Four AK-47 rifles believed to have been used by the attackers were also recovered.

A security official said it is possible the remains are of the attackers but it would not be definitively known until tests are carried out. The two boxes were taken to the morgue on Thursday, and on Friday Western forensic examiners arrived there and locked the boxes containing the remains, a morgue official told The Associated Press. FBI agents have been investigating since soon after gunmen invaded the chic Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21.

One of the four gunmen was identified by a real name for the first time: Abdi Dhuhulow, a Norwegian-Somali according to the security official. 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.

One man living in another Scandinavian country, who only gave his first name, Yussuf, told AP he believes he had met the gunman at a gathering of Somali immigrants in Oslo, Norway's capital, in 2008.

Yussuf recalled the man's name as Abdi and said he was associated with "pretty radical" circles in Norway.

"He was mad. He didn't feel at home in Norway," Yussuf said, declining to give his last name out of fear of reprisals from al-Shabab sympathizers. Yussuf said he had not had any contact with the man since then but added that several people he knew thought they had recognized him in the closed-circuit TV footage of the mall attack.

"We said that it could be him when we looked at the video," Yussuf said.

Newly released security video shows that four gunmen entered the mall and casually opened fire on shoppers, the beginning of a four-day siege that resulted in a massive fire and the mall's partial collapse.

Four AK-47 rifles and 11 magazines of ammunition -- all apparently used by the attackers -- were also found in the mall rubble, the security official said. A rocket-propelled grenade, likely from Kenyan security forces, was also recovered. The two officials insisted on anonymity because the information has not been released publicly.

The Somali Islamic militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Kenya sending troops into Somalia to go after the group. The gunmen stormed the mall just after noon on a busy shopping day. The siege, which set off heavy battles with Kenyan security forces, lasted four days and resulted in RPGs being fired inside the mall, a massive fire and the collapse of the mall's main grocery and department store.

The Kenyan security forces have come under heavy criticism over allegations they looted many of the shops inside the mall during the siege. Although government officials have denied looting took place, video seen by AP shows soldiers picking items off shelves in a store that appears to be Nakumatt, and then later walking out with bags stuffed with goods.

[Associated Press; By TOM ODULA and JASON STRAZIUSO]

AP writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Karl Ritter in Stockholm contributed to this report.

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