Two soldiers have been sacked and jailed for looting during last month’s attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre, Kenyan army chief Julius Karangi has said.
Julius Karangi said that a third soldier was under investigation.
He has previously said that soldiers had only taken water during the four-day siege, despite CCTV footage seeming to show them helping themselves to goods in a supermarket.
Somali Islamist group al-Shabab says it was behind the attack, which killed 67.
Two soldiers have been sacked and jailed for looting during last month’s attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre
At the same news conference, Police Criminal Investigation Department head Ndegwa Muhoro said that a phone call had been made to Norway during the siege.
One of the suspected attackers has been named as 23-year-old Somalia-born Norwegian national, Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.
The Kenyan army has said that all four of the attackers died.
Ndegwa Muhoro said that Interpol was helping to analyse the bodies to confirm their identities, reports the AFP news agency.
Officials had initially said there were 10-15 attackers.
Ndegwa Muhoro said that five other people were in detention over the attack and would be charged soon.
Several shop-owners have said that their premises were looted during the siege.
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Kenyan security officials are to be questioned by MPs about alleged intelligence failings over the Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre attack.
The head of the parliament’s defense committee says “people need to know the exact lapses in the security system”.
There are reports the National Intelligence Service (NIS) issued warnings a year ago.
Some 67 people were killed and many injured after al-Shabab militants stormed the Westgate centre in the capital Nairobi on September 21.
Five militants were killed by the security forces during the four-day siege and 10 people have since been arrested, the authorities say.
Al-Shabab, a Somali Islamist group, said the attack was in retaliation for Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia.
Kenyan security officials are to be questioned by MPs about alleged intelligence failings over the Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre attack
According to a BBC report, the militants hired a shop in Nairobi mall in the weeks leading up to the siege.
Security officials – including the head of the (NIS), Michael Gichangi – are set to appear before the parliamentary defense committee later on Monday.
Kenyan newspapers have reported that the NIS warned a year ago of the presence of suspected al-Shabab militants in the capital and that they were planning suicide attacks, including on the Westgate shopping centre.
Briefings were given to the ministers “informing them of increasing threat of terrorism and of plans to launch simultaneous attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa around September 13 and 20, 2013”, Kenya’s Daily Nation had quoted counter-terrorism reports as saying.
A dossier from the NIS – amounting to more than 8,000 pages according to Kenya’s Standard newspaper – also suggests the Israelis issued warnings that buildings owned by its citizens could be attacked between 4 and 28 September.
Westgate is partly Israeli-owned.
The Daily Nation has reported that Kenyan intelligence had established that al-Shabab leaders had begun singling out Westgate and the Holy Family Basilica for attack early this year.
Government figures said to have received the intelligence briefings include Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku, Treasury Minister Julius Rotich, Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohammed, Defence Minister Raychelle Omamo and Kenya Defence Forces chief Julius Karangi.
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Fresh gunfire and explosions have been heard at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi where militants are said to be holding a number of hostages.
Sixty-eight people have been killed and more than 170 injured since the attack began in Kenya’s capital on Saturday.
Between 10 and 15 attackers – thought to be militants from the Somali al-Shabab movement – are still inside the Westgate shopping centre.
Reporters at the scene said there had been heavy and rapid bursts of fire.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Monday morning it was adjourning the trial of Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto on charges relating to violence following elections in 2007.
The court said William Ruto would be excused for a week to return to Nairobi to help deal with the crisis.
The battle to end the long stand-off is continuing in earnest as conditions for those trapped inside the complex deteriorate.
An unnamed Kenyan security source told the AFP news agency that an army assault was underway.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said he heard about 15 minutes of fierce gunfire which then subsided.
A photographer accompanying the correspondent said troops deployed around the mall were forced to duck for cover.
The photographer said it “sounded as if the shots were coming from somewhere around the mall, or were being fired from a vantage point in the mall”.
Sixty-eight people have been killed and more than 170 injured since the attack began in Kenya’s capital on Saturday
The defence forces said on Twitter several hours ago: “All efforts are under way to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion.”
Authorities have emphasised that it is a delicate operation as the safe rescue of the hostages is their top priority, says our correspondent.
Four soldiers had been injured in the attack by Sunday evening.
Kenyan military vehicles have been seen entering and leaving the area throughout Monday morning.
A Kenyan security official said that their forces were receiving foreign assistance, namely from Americans and Israelis.
Overnight reports said that the gunmen were holed up in a supermarket.
Earlier, defense spokesman Col. Cyrus Oguna said only a small number of hostages were still being held and most had been rescued.
As troops continued to clear the building, it was possible they would come across more bodies, Col Oguna warned on Sunday.
In a news conference on Sunday, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said the country was united and strong in adversity.
“The criminals are now located in one place within the building,” he said.
“With the professionals on site, we have as good a chance to neutralise the terrorists as we could hope for.”
Uhuru Kenyatta said his nephew and the man’s fiancée were among the dead.
President Barack Obama called President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday to express condolences and reiterate “US support for Kenya’s efforts to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice”.
The wife of an American working for the US Agency for International Development was killed, US officials said.
Prominent Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor – who was attending a literary festival in Nairobi – also died, as did a Chinese woman.
French, Dutch, South African, Indian and Canadian nationals are also among the foreigners confirmed killed, along with a dual Australian-British national.
Thousands of Kenyans responded on Sunday to appeals for blood donations.
Al-Shabab says it carried out the attack in response to Kenyan military operations in Somalia.
The group, which is part of the al-Qaeda network, has repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi did not pull its troops out of Somalia.
There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia, where they have been fighting the militants since 2011.
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