US warns of threat of attacks in Kenya, Ethiopia

Nov 2, 2006 (WASHINGTON) — The United States warned its citizens on Thursday that Kenya and Ethiopia could become targets of suicide attacks by “extremist elements” from Somalia, where Islamists control the capital and other key areas.

“These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia,” said a message issued to U.S. citizens by the U.S. embassies in both Ethiopia and Kenya.

The embassies said they issued the message in response to reports of “terrorist threats emanating from extremist elements within Somalia which target Kenya, Ethiopia and other surrounding countries.”

They urged American citizens to be vigilant and use extreme caution when going to prominent public places in Kenya, Ethiopia and other surrounding countries.

Truck bombs exploded at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. All but 10 of the deaths were in Nairobi, where damage was the worst.

The message was issued amid growing fears of a regional war due to Ethiopia’s support of Somalia’s weak interim government and Eritrea’s apparent backing of the Islamists, who control the capital Mogadishu and are gaining more ground in the lawless Horn of Africa state.

The State Department has urged all sides in Somalia as well as Ethiopia and Eritrea not to take steps to escalate tensions in Somalia.

Washington accuses the Islamists, which comprise different factions, of harboring al Qaeda operatives and has asked them to hand them over.

(Reuters)