US issues 'high' terror alert on Kenya

The Pentagon’s intelligence branch has issued a terrorism alert to all United States interests in Kenya and raised the threat level there to “high,” a defence official said in Washington today.

The warning, issued on Thursday by the Defence Intelligence Agency, is based on specific information about a threat against a specific target, the official said.

Details of the warning, including the target and the nature of the threat, are classified secret, the official said.

The official would not say whether the target was the US Embassy in Nairobi.

Kenya and other countries in the Horn of Africa have been a focus of US counter-terrorism efforts for many months.

A special US military task force has been operating in the Horn of Africa since late last year.