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Kenya on high alert over increased Al-Shabaab threats: police chief

Xinhua, June 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya's police chief has revealed that the country's security forces are on high alert following a firefight with Al-Shabaab militants outside military camp on Sunday and intelligence about attempted attacks in the country's coastal and northeastern regions.

Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinett, said terrorists might be targeting learning institutions and government buildings mainly in Nairobi, Mombasa and northern Kenya, but assured that "police will foil any such attempts."

"Consequently, security agencies have in response, enhance alertness across the country and carrying out security operations to ensure evil plans by these desperate criminals do not succeed," Boinett said in a statement on Monday.

The militants plan to increase attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, he said, but assured that Muslims will get adequate security.

"I want to assure all Muslim brothers and sisters they will be able to observe their religious obligations unhindered," said Obonyo, adding that the public should report any suspicious activities.

On Sunday, Al-Shabaab fighters raided a military camp in Buare, Lamu County, with 11 militants and two soldiers killed in the fighting, said Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman, David Obonyo.

Another four suspected Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in operations after the attack, the spokesman later announced.

The raid took place as residents prepared to mark the first anniversary of the Mpeketoni attack that claimed over 60 lives in Lamu last June.

Police said that close to 200 insurgents had plotted to carry out an attack in Mpeketoni, Witu and Hindi this week during the commemoration of the massacre.

Kenya has been facing increased threats posed by Somalia-based Al-Shabaab.

In early April, the group's gunmen killed 148 people, mostly students, in a university in Kenya's northeastern county of Garissa. Late last year, 64 people were killed by the militants in two attacks in Mandera region.

The government has intensified security operations, including an ongoing construction of a perimeter wall along the Kenya- Somalia border. Endi