FOREIGNERS

The president said he could not confirm intelligence reports of British and American militants, adding that forensic tests were being carried out to establish their nationalities. On Monday, the government denied speculation of women being among the guerrillas, but said some had been dressed as women. That may have been a ploy to smuggle more weapons past mall guards.

It would be unusual for Islamist militants to put women on the frontline and al Shabaab categorically denied it. British media have speculated about the involvement of the "White Widow", the fugitive British wife of one of the four men who blew themselves up in the 7/7 bombings in London in July 2005.

"We have an adequate number of young men who are fully committed & we do not employ our sisters in such military operations #Westgate," al Shabaab said on its Twitter feed.

Making no mention of gunmen still in the mall, it also drew a link to the most recent Islamist attack in London, when a soldier was stabbed to death on a busy street in May in the suburb of Woolwich. Michael Adebolajo and a fellow British Muslim convert of Nigerian descent face trial for murder.

"It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth...' Remember Mujahid Adebolajo? This is what he meant. His was #Woolwich, #Westgate ours!" another al Shabaab Twitter post read.

Kenyatta said: "These cowards will meet justice as will their accomplices and patrons, wherever they are."

KENYATTA

He thanked other leaders, including US President Barack Obama, for support and used his address to both praise the response of the Kenyan people and call for national unity, six months after his election was marked by ethnic tensions.

"Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed," he said.

Kenyatta's focus on Kenya's troubles, and of his role in a global campaign against terrorism, was a reminder that he faces trial at The Hague in a few weeks time for crimes against humanity over violence that followed a previous election, in 2007. The International Criminal Court adjourned the trial of his vice president this week because of the Westgate crisis.

The president and his government have urged the ICC to drop the case and warm words for the Kenyan leadership from Western allies during the siege may have encouraged their hopes that the court might be pressed to shelve proceedings in the interests of shoring up an important partner in the fight against al Qaeda.

The attack has come at a time when several violent Islamist groups from Mali to Algeria, Nigeria to Kenya - tapping into local grievances but all espousing an anti-Western, anti-Christian creed - are striking at state authority and international interests.

Kenyatta had rejected demands that he pull Kenyan troops out of its northern neighbour. As part of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia, those soldiers have pushed al Shabaab on to the defensive over the past two years.

Its attack on an Israeli-built complex that symbolised the rise of an affluent class of Africans alongside expatriate Westerns may now help the movement to a position of prominence in the widening constellation of international jihadists.

Images from closed-circuit television inside the mall during the attack showed two militants, casually dressed and wearing ammunition belts. One held an assault rifle. Al Shabaab confirmed he pair were part of the group that attacked Westgate.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said earlier that "two or three Americans" and a British woman were among the militants. She said the Americans were "young men, about between maybe 18 and 19" years old. She said they were of Somali or Arab origin and had lived in "in Minnesota and one other place".

Al Shabaab, which said it had been in communication with its members in the mall, dismissed the minister's comments.