Rescue workers were still searching on Friday through the debris of the partly Israeli-owned mall, which was destroyed in the attack by gunmen in which at least 67 people were killed in a four-day hostage crisis.

According to reports, the dead also included three British nationals, two French women, two Canadian citizens including a diplomat, a Chinese woman, two Indians, a Ghanaian poet, a South Korean, a South African, and a Dutch woman.

Kenyan security forces are looking for fighters of Somalia’s al-Shabab, who claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab wants Kenya to pull its troops out of Somalia.

On September 25, al-Shabab leader Ahmed Godane confirmed that the group was behind the attack on the mall, saying the raid was in retaliation for the Kenyan military’s invasion of southern Somalia in October 2011.

"Take your troops out or prepare for a long-lasting war, blood, destruction and evacuation," Godane said.

"You are part of the massacre Kenya carried out in Kismayo and in other towns because you had elected your politicians. The tax you pay is used to arm Uhuru (Kenyatta) forces that massacre Muslims. You had supported the fight against us," Godane said in the message directed to Kenyans.

Kenya has more than 4,000 army soldiers in southern Somalia, where they have been battling the al-Shabab fighters since 2011.

The Kenyan troops are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that gets training and equipment from the United States.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.