Kenyan police seize cache of explosive-laden vests, rifles

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kenyan police seized a cache of explosive-laden vests, grenades and automatic rifles in an overnight raid on a Nairobi apartment on Friday, Sept 14, thwarting an imminent attack by Somali Islamist militants, a senior police official said, according to Reuters.

East Africa's biggest economy has been on a heightened state of security since Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to crush al Qaeda-linked insurgents who carried out a double suicide bombing in neighboring Uganda in 2010.

Western embassies in Kenya have warned of potential attacks several times in the last nine months.

"Obviously these are al Shabaab items. This is a very organized team that is ready to cause big problems in the country," Moses Ombati, Nairobi's deputy police chief, told reporters at the apartment where the weapons were seized.

As the dawn call to prayer rang out from nearby mosques, police displayed the six suicide bomber vests, 12 grenades and four AK-47s with more than a dozen loaded magazines.

Wiring could be seen protruding from wrapped-up bundles stuffed into the vests. Police said the neatly arranged packages contained explosives and were ready to be used. They also seized several mobile phone they said would likely have been used to trigger the bombs.

Kenya has been dogged over the last year by a wave of explosions and gun attacks blamed on al Shabaab and their sympathizers in Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and towns along its porous border with Somalia.