Accessibility links

Breaking News

US Relocates Kenya Embassy Staffers Due to Terror Concerns


FILE - U.S. Marines on the grounds of the U.S. embassy compound in Nairobi.
FILE - U.S. Marines on the grounds of the U.S. embassy compound in Nairobi.
The United States is moving some diplomatic staff out of Kenya due to rising concerns about terrorism.

A new travel warning from the State Department says the U.S. embassy is Nairobi is "relocating some staff to other countries," although the embassy will continue normal operations.

The warning says the U.S. continues to receive information about possible terrorist threats to U.S., Western and Kenyan interests in Kenya, including in the Nairobi area and in the coastal cities of Mombasa and Diani.

On Monday, the embassy placed restrictions on official personnel traveling to all coastal counties, due to deadly attacks by gunmen in the town of Mpeketoni.

Somali militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for those attacks, while Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta blamed "local political networks" attacking people for their ethnicity.

Kenya has endured a steady stream of bomb and gun attacks since the government sent troops into Somalia to fight al-Shabab in 2011.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG