Americans and a 'British woman' – believed to be from the North – were among the terrorists who attacked a Nairobi shopping mall, killing more than 60 people, Kenya’s foreign minister said today.

An al-Qaida-linked militant group has said it will not allow banned aid organisations to return to southern Somalia, meaning only a handful of agencies will be able to respond to the worsening famine.

A SUICIDE bomber and gunmen wearing military uniforms attacked a hotel near Somalia’s presidential palace yesterday, sparking a one-hour gun battle with security forces.

An unexploded suicide vest containing ball bearings was found in a disco hall in Uganda’s capital, near the sites of two weekend bomb blasts, suggesting that militants planned another attack, officials said today.

At least 17 civilians were killed when Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers launched co-ordinated attacks against Islamic insurgent strongholds in the capital Mogadishu, officials said today.