The British High Commission in Kenya has decided to close until further notice because of a "specific threat" it has received, spokesman Mr Mark Norton said tonight.
The British High Commission in Kenya has decided to close until further notice because of a "specific threat" it has received, spokesman Mr Mark Norton said tonight.
"We have received a specific threat against the high commission. In light of that, we've decided to close until further notice."
"We're investigating the threat as we speak," Mr Norton said, though he added: "It's unlikely we will reverse the decision to stay closed tomorrow."
The US Public Affairs Office (PAO), located in an office building in downtown Nairobi and not in the walled US embassy compound outside the city, will also close "as a precaution based upon the threat" against the British, an embassy official said.
The PAO deals with the Kenyan and foreign news media. However, the US embassy is scheduled to be open tomorrow, the official said.
The US and British missions are normally closed on Saturday and Sunday, while Friday is a public holiday for the Eid al-Fitr holiday ending the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were hit by massive bombs in August 1998 that claimed the lives of 224 people. The attacks were blamed on al-Qaeda.
AFP
The British High Commission in Kenya has been closed until further notice because of a "specific" threat, the mission's spokesman said in Nairobi tonight.
"I can confirm that we have received a specific threat against the High Commission, and therefore we have decided to close until further notice," said Mr Mark Norton, press and public affairs officer.
He said he could not elaborate on the nature of the threat to the building located in a semi-residential neighbourhood called Upper Hill just outside the central business district in the Kenyan capital.
The closure comes a week after twin attacks on Israeli targets on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast took the lives of 10 Kenyans, three Israelis and at least two suicide bombers.
In August 1998, a car bomb exploded at the US Embassy in Nairobi, killed 219 people, including 12 Americans, and injuring 5,000 others.
Al-Qaeda has been blamed for that attack, and President George Bush tonight blamed the group for last week's twin attacks in Kenya.
At the White House he said: "I am concerned about al-Qaeda anywhere. I believe that al-Qaeda was involved in the African bombings in Kenya.
Earlier, Kenyan police revealed they have arrested the man who sold the 4X4 vehicle used in last week's suicide bombing of a British owned beach resort hotel that killed at least 15 people.
AFP