http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/251a1d3cd67d4ee69410a093fea5b91e/AF--Kenya-US-Threatened
US Embassy in Kenya takes defensive stance amid increased terror fears
from al-Qaida group
By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press
June 05, 2014 - 11:44 am EDT
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Marine stood behind a camouflaged sandbag bunker
atop the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and scanned the horizon with
binoculars. What he saw was a busy street that officials fear is full
of targets for an attack by al-Qaida-linked militants because
diplomatic missions are in the neighborhood.
More than 15 years after al-Qaida destroyed the U.S. Embassy in
Nairobi with a massive truck bomb that killed more than 200 people,
fear is rising that U.S. diplomatic personnel and property could again
be targeted. Armed Marines are now stationed on the embassy's roof,
one indication of recent security upgrades.
Intelligence has been circulating in the region the last two months
that American interests are the next intended target for al-Shabab, an
al-Qaida linked group in Somalia responsible for last year's attack on
Nairobi's Westgate Mall, said a Kenyan police official who insisted on
anonymity to talk about security matters.
The terror group has also shown interest in attacking the U.S.
military base in Djibouti, just north of Somalia, and there were
indications that the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia was being considered as
a target last year, said Matt Bryden, the former head of the United
Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea and a top expert on
al-Shabab.
Ambassador Robert Godec last week told some 400 Americans at a town
hall meeting: "We know that there's a threat, and we know it's
serious." Diplomats have indicated that global terrorists affiliated
with al-Qaida are moving in to the region.
The embassy looks likely to scale back the number of U.S. personnel
stationed in Kenya, in part by reducing or moving the East Africa
mission for the U.S. aid agency USAID.
The embassy's top security officer, Marion Cotter, detailed the
evolution of terror in Kenya: The first improvised explosive device
explosion was in August 2012. Then militants began using remote
controlled IEDs and brought into Kenya a massive, complex car bomb
this year that the FBI disarmed. Militants now also use multiple IEDs
in a single attack, and gunmen on suicide missions.
FILE - In this Saturday, March 9, 2013 file photo, U.S. Ambassador to
Kenya Robert F. Godec arrives at the National Election Center to hear
the announcement of the final presidential election result, in
Nairobi, Kenya. More than 15 years after al-Qaida destroyed the U.S.
Embassy in Nairobi with a massive truck bomb that killed more than 200
people, fear is rising that U.S. diplomatic personnel and property
could again be targeted, with U.S. Ambassador Robert Godec telling a
town hall meeting in late May 2014 "We know that there's a threat, and
we know it's serious" and armed Marines now being stationed on the
embassyâ EURO (tm)s roof. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
"Westgate was the first time there was really a Western target since
2002," Cotter told the U.S. audience, referring to the September
attack on an upscale mall by four gunmen that killed at least 67
people, many of them foreigners.
In a statement to The Associated Press after the town hall, Godec, who
was stationed in Nairobi during the 1998 embassy bombing, said the
embassy is continually evaluating its security posture and updating
security based on threat information analysis.
The embassy on Thursday told U.S. citizens to be cautious in large
groups -- at bars or restaurants, for instance -- when watching the
upcoming soccer World Cup. Al-Shabab detonated bombs in neighboring
Uganda as people watched the World Cup final four years ago, killing
70 people.
Late last month an al-Shabab leader named Fuad Mohamed Khalaf, also
known as Shongole, said Islam's flag will fly over Washington and New
York. In an earlier speech, al-Shabab leader Ahmad Godane foreshadowed
attacks on French interests, Bryden said, which may have referred to a
suicide bomb attack at a restaurant in Djibouti, where French forces
are also stationed.
The U.S. Embassy sits across from the street from the U.N.
headquarters in Kenya. Kenya recently deployed more security forces on
the street.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in a speech on Wednesday said his
government is committed to protecting the country. The military is
planning to station troops on roads potentially used by al-Shabab to
enter Kenya.
"Serious tests lie before us," Kenyatta said.
Received on Thu Jun 05 2014 - 19:56:22 EDT