‘Bombers had Hillary in sights’

RADICAL Islamists had plotted to carry out bomb attacks in Nairobi during the visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in August.

The foiled plot included, among others, plans to detonate explosives in Clinton’s hotel in the city, the Sunday Nation reported yesterday.“Al-Qaeda wanted to strike at the heart of Nairobi,” an unnamed counter- terrorism expert was quoted as saying. Radicals with links to the Somali al-Shabaab group, which is listed as a terrorist group by the US because of its links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, had also wanted to set off two more bombs at a bus stop and an adjacent hotel . Kenyan security officials intercepted communication between the plotters in Somalia and their operatives in Nairobi, and foiled the plan about a week before Clinton arrived in Kenya .Five suspected terrorists were arrested, including a man believed to be Somali carrying a Danish passport. The four other suspects had what appeared to be false Kenyan identity documents. — Sapa-DPA