The Kenyan government has beefed up security along its frontier with Somalia where the Islamists have engaged with the government of Somalia in near daily attacks over the control of strategic locations in the war-torn nation.
The Standard newspaper reported on Tuesday that more Army personnel have been deployed on the Kenya-Somalia border, prompting a mass exodus of locals in fear of military presence.
Military Spokesman Bogita Ongeri said the Kenyan government opted to deploy additional officers to tighten security along the borders.
Ongeri said Kenyan security agencies are on alert following increasing insurgency in Somalia that has seen militia groups take control of most areas.
The deployment follows a renewed security alert by the United States which has warned its citizens that insurgents had planned to attack on the day of the sixth anniversary of Kikambala bombings.
Washington called on American citizens in the country to evaluate their personal security situation in light of continuing terror threats and a high rate of violent crime in the northeast region which borders Somalia.
"The U.S. Government continues to receive indications of potential terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Kenya," read part of the advisory which was updated last Friday.
"Terrorist acts could include suicide operations, bombings, kidnappings, attacks on civil aviation, and attacks on maritime vessels in or near Kenyan ports."
The advisory warns of possible terrorist attacks in Kenya, saying that those responsible for past attacks in Nairobi and Kikambala in Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa are still active in the region.
The local daily also reported that security agents are on high alert ahead of next week's sixth anniversary of the Paradise Hotel bombing in Kikambala. Sources said there are fears terror suspects could attack to mark the anniversary.
"We are generally on alert because you never know what these people are planning and given what is happening in Somalia," said a senior officer.
Kenya has already suffered four terrorist attacks, all either claimed by or attributed to Osama Bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.
In August 1998, car bombs destroyed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and in November 2002 attackers tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes before a car bomb destroyed a hotel on Kenya's coast city of Mombasa.
Source: Xinhua
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