A cache of intelligence detailing the training of Al Qaeda’s East Africa group that was obtained exclusively by the Toronto Star may help explain how a small group of terrorists carried out the deadly siege that took Kenyan authorities four days to stop.

“Each martyrdom seeker will be trained in Somalia preferably for two months and he will only know his mission,” says one document discovered on a flash drive beside the slain body of the former African leader, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed .

“The brothers will be pushed through many battles to see how they react under pressure and they will be analyzed to see if they can keep their composure. They will be tested mentally to see if they are smart enough to carry out these operations.”

The documents may be dated — “Fazul,” as he was most commonly known among intelligence officials, was shot dead by Somali forces in 2011 — but looking at the former Al Qaeda leader’s meticulous planning in the wake of the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi reveals chilling clues.

Little is yet known about the attackers or what happened in the last 24 hours of an assault that began at noon Saturday in the crowded upscale mall.

But if the Somalia-based and Al Qaeda-aligned Al Shabab, who have claimed credit for the attack, received the training Fazul envisioned, it becomes easier to understand how the siege lasted so long.

“We stand by each other and the families of the fallen,” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a national address on Tuesday.

“Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed.”

But his speech gave few details about the fate of the remaining hostages or how the militants eluded the elite Kenyan police and military, who reportedly were helped by Israeli and other foreign counterterrorism forces.

Al Shabab boasted again Tuesday on Twitter about the operation before Kenyatta’s address, saying they were “holding their ground.” They also claimed a security camera image reportedly taken from the mall’s closed-circuit TV, which had been circulated online, showed two of their members.

The heavily armed men, whose heads were covered in black scarves, were calmly walking past a cart selling candy and heart-shaped helium balloons in the mall.

Al Qaeda has become the byword for terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, and Al Shabab, the umbrella group for terrorism in East Africa. But both organizations have fractured and morphed over the past decade.

Fazul was close to Osama bin Laden, who was killed six weeks prior to Fazul’s death, and headed up the group’s African operations. Somali authorities believe Fazul was set up by Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, as the elusive Fazul was known for his skills at hiding and disguising himself and had been on the run for more than 10 years.

Godane later orchestrated the Shabab’s formal merger with Al Qaeda’s new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri , and recently killed off dissenting members of his group.

Fazul had been Al Qaeda’s highest-ranking leader in Africa and had a somewhat fractured relationship with the Shabab. Born in the Comoro Islands, off the coast of Mozambique, he was the alleged mastermind of the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 224. He was also accused of the 2002 bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa and a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes later.

After he stumbled upon a roadblock in Somalia in 2011, and was killed by soldiers who had no idea they were shooting at the man who had a $5-million FBI bounty on his head, then U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton called his death “a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents.”

The Star obtained the Fazul documents last year. Described by some counterterrorism officials as a “treasure trove of intelligence,” the material was recovered on flash drives and inside the bullet-ridden Toyota Hilux that Fazul’s driver tried to ram through a government checkpoint near Mogadishu.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

While there were dozens of documents, Internet frame grabs and media reports in English, Arabic, Somali and Swahili, along with more than 50 video clips, which appear to be shot from the back of a car, two documents provide the most insight.

Training instructions are part of a planning paper titled “International Operations,” where the targets identified are in the U.K. “Our objectives are to strike London with low-cost operations that would cause a heavy blow amongst the hierarchy and Jewish communities using attacks similar to the tactics used by our brothers in Mumbai,” it says, referring to the 2008 Indian attack that lasted for three days.

Some of the targets in the Fazul document include London’s prestigious hotels and Britain’s Stamford Hill and Golders Green neighbourhoods, populated “with tens of thousands of Jews crammed in a small area.” The prestigious Eton School, attended by many members of Britain’s royal elite, is also listed.

“These attacks must be backed with carefully planned media campaign to show why we chose our targets to refute the hypocrites, clear doubts amongst Muslims and also inspire Muslim youth to copy.”

If Twitter and email are any indication, then the Shabab is following the media strategy after the Westgate attacks in trying to get their message out. Witnesses also said attackers attempted to separate Muslims from non-Muslims, although harsh condemnation of the attack has come swiftly from the many communities they hope to inspire.

Included in the planning document is a list of materials needed, including petrol bombs and extra bullets and magazines for assault weapons.

The training course includes: target practice, “hand to hand combat,” counter surveillance, “mobile phone security” and reconnaissance.

“Target practice will be a minimum of 100 bullets including pistol AK and SMGs they will shoot still targets and moving targets.”

The proposed training course ends with a list of military skills to be covered: “Reconnaissance will cover how to gather suitable information on the target, for example where are the nearest police stations, what times is the most crowded, when are best times to attack, are there any armed guards, are they prepared for an attack, best way to enter building, where to take cover while engaging police in a fire fight, weak points on the target, where are CCTV cameras, what is the safest route to the destination, are there any metal detectors.”

Although the document is intended for an attack on U.K. targets, another document that outlines the proposed kidnapping of Sudan’s deputy ambassador to Nairobi reveals the extent of their intelligence-gathering in Kenya, which undoubtedly has only increased since Fazul’s death and Kenya’s military involvement in Somalia that has pushed the war next door.

The document lists everything from the diplomat’s “favourite visit place” to his home address and cellphone numbers, the route he uses to travel and a detailed physical description. Under a heading of “dress code,” it states “suite,” presumably indicating the deputy ambassador often wears suits.

The plot was an attempt to free a fighter nicknamed “Abu Abdullah,” who was jailed in Khartoum.

The “advantages” of such an operation are to raise the “moral (sic) of the mujahideen” and be a “lesson to the enemy.”