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 the Star. The two are believed to have crossed over to Somalia where they joined the terror group and received training.
At least 16 people lost their lives, dozens were injured and 50 others are missing after heavily armed gunmen stormed the complex, forcing hundreds of others to make daring escapes. American, Israeli and British special forces were part of the security operation in which more than 700 civilians were evacuated.
The attack was executed in a strategy similar to that of the September, 21, 2013, Westgate mall siege that killed 67 people.
“The security operation at the Dusit complex is over, and all the terrorists eliminated,” President Uhuru Kenyatta told the nation from State House Nairobi after chairing a National Security Council meeting.
“As of this moment, we can confirm that 14 innocent lives were lost through the hands of these murderous terrorists.”
Investigators privy to the matter told the Star that 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.
Police have already obtained CCTV footage from both the petrol station and the Secret Garden Dusit restaurant where the attackers randomly shot innocent people who had gone there for lunch.
The footage will help the police piece together the events preceding the terror attack.
The investigators have concluded that the seventh man was on the run because he was not captured by Secret Garden cameras .
Witnesses said the attackers gained entry to the DusitD2 hotel through the kitchen and started shooting as they pushed their way into the dining area.
One of terrorists, a suicide bomber, blew himself up inside the restaurant.
After the siege yesterday, six bodies believed to be those of the terrorists remained in separate rooms in the luxury hotel frequented by high-profile Kenyans and foreigners.