Threat closes British High Commission in Kenya

The British High Commission in Kenya closed its embassy last night in reaction to a security threat.

"I can confirm that we have received a specific threat against the High Commission, and therefore we have decided to close until further notice," Mark Norton, the press and public affairs officer at the embassy, said. He said he could not give any more details on the nature of the threat to the building, which is in a semi-residential neighbourhood called Upper Hill in Nairobi.

The closure comes a week after three Israelis, nine Kenyans, three suicide bombers and an unidentified person were killed by a bomb-laden vehicle which rammed into the Hotel Paradise at the coastal tourist resort of Mombasa. An almost simultaneous missile attack narrowly missed an Israeli plane taking off nearby.

The hotel bombing was the worst terrorist attack in Kenya since 1998, when the US embassy in Nairobi was bombed, killing 219 people, including 12 Americans, and injuring 5,000 others.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network has been blamed for that attack, and yesterday President George Bush also accused al-Qa'ida of carrying out last week's attacks in Kenya.

"I am concerned about al- Qa'ida anywhere. I believe that al-Qa'ida was involved in the African bombing in Kenya. I believe al-Qa'ida hates freedom. I believe al-Qa'ida will strike anywhere they can in order to disrupt civil society," he said.

Mr Bush is scheduled to hold talks on security in the Horn of Africa with the Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi in Washington today.