The US State Department warned Americans on of the risks of travel to Kenya, after heightened terror threats and recent violence in some areas.
US nationals should "evaluate their personal security situation" before travel, the State Department said yesterday, updating a previous warning issued in September after an attack at a major Nairobi shopping mall killed dozens and wounded five Americans.
"The US government continues to receive information about potential terrorist threats aimed at US, Western and Kenyan interests in Kenya, including in the Nairobi area and in the coastal cities of Mombasa and Diani," the warning said.
Kenya has been hit by a series of attacks since sending troops into southern Somalia in 2011 to battle Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents -- the deadliest being the assault by extremist commandos on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall that claimed 67 lives.
"In the past year and a half, there have been numerous attacks involving shootings, grenades or other explosive devices in Kenya," the State Department said.
"US citizens in Kenya should be extremely vigilant with regard to their personal security, particularly in crowded public places such as clubs, hotels, resorts, shopping centers, restaurants, bus stations and places of worship."
On Tuesday, prominent radical cleric Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, also a vocal supporter of Al-Qaeda and its late leader Osama bin Laden, was gunned down in Kenya's port city of Mombasa.
Prior to his death, he had accused Kenyan security forces of seeking to kill him.
