(SomaliNet) The U.S. embassy in Nairobi has warned that Somali-based militants may attempt to kidnap Americans and other Westerners from Kenya's tourist beaches. An embassy statement Friday said there were indications that extremists might target Westerners at Kiwayu Island and other popular resorts along Kenya's northeastern coast, near the Somali border. The warning is based on a tip Kenyan police passed along to embassy officials. Kenya closed its border with Somalia in January during fighting that pitted Islamic militia against Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies.
The U.S. blames the al-Qaida terrorist network for the 1998 attack that destroyed its embassy in Nairobi and for a 2002 car bombing of a beachfront hotel in southeastern Kenya.