Kenyan Air Force jets struck al-Qaeda-linked targets in Southern Somalia two days after bombs in Nairobi left at least 12 people dead and scores injured, and the U.S. is considering cutting staff at its embassy, BusinessWeek reports.
The U.S. State Department said Sunday it continues to receive information about possible threats to Western interests in much of Kenya, including Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and the holiday-resort town of Diani. The State Department updated its travel warning for Kenya, saying its embassy is “reviewing its staffing with an eye toward reduction in staff in the near future.”
Kenya’s military began incursions into Southern Somalia in October 2011 to combat al-Shabaab militants blamed for a series of attacks on aid workers and tourists. Al-Shabaab threatened to retaliate unless the forces were withdrawn. In September the group claimed responsibility for a raid on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, which left at least 67 people dead.
Tourist arrivals to Kenya fell from 1.7 million in 2012 to 1.4 million in 2013 in the wake of the Westgate attack, BusinessWeek reports. Tourism is Kenya’s second-largest source of foreign exchange, generating $1.1 billion in 2013.
On May 16, two explosions at the Gikomba market in Nairobi killed 12 people and injured 99. Those deaths add to the 54 people who have died and the 193 wounded in terrorist attacks in Kenya since the Westgate raid, according to Maplecroft, the Bath, U.K.-based risk consultancy.
The Kenyan air force on Sunday struck a bomb-making facility at Jilib, about 334 kilometers (207 miles) southwest of the Somali capital of Mogadishu, military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said on Twitter account. A second site housing al-Shabaab fighters including some Kenyans was also hit by the jets, he said.
“The United States stands with our Kenyan friends and partners who continue to face adversity with courage and resolve,” Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in an e-mail. “We support them in their efforts to confront terrorism in all of its forms.”
The largest economy in East Africa, Kenya is the world’s No. 1 exporter of black tea. Companies including IBM, Google and Toyota have regional bases there. The
government is preparing to debut a $1.5-billion Eurobond sale by the end of June.
TUI AG, owner of Europe’s largest tour operator, said Friday it had repatriated about 400 customers in Kenya to the U.K. and canceled all flights to Mombasa until Oct. 31.
The U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office on May 14 advised against “all but essential travel” to Mombasa and surrounding areas because of security threats. The U.S., Canada, France, Sweden and Australia, issued similar advisories.
African Union Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma described Friday’s marketplace blasts as a “heinous and cowardly act against innocent civilians,” and reaffirmed in an email the pan-African organization’s support for Kenyan authorities.
