WORLD> Africa
Kenya denies foreign forces in country over terror suspect
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-13 11:48

NAIROBI -- Kenyan authorities on Tuesday denied foreign security forces are in the country to hunt for terror suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who evaded police dragnet early this month in the coastal town of Malindi.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe also denied that the US intelligence agency Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has been conducting a parallel operation on the 32-year-old Mohammed who is accused of masterminding the bombings of two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a decade ago.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, Kiraithe said Kenyan security forces were capable of carrying out the operation and denied that they had sought help from the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to help capture Mohammed, who is believed to be holed up in the country.

"Kenya police has the capacity to conduct anti-terrorism operations and there are no foreign investigators within the force," Kiraithe told journalists.

A local newspaper claimed on Tuesday that US and Israeli police units were in the country conducting terrorism investigations.

The Standard said that the FBI now wants to take over the hunt for Mohammed, an exercise that has taken the country's security forces more than two weeks without success.

"The request by FBI and the doubt on the Kenyan police ability, our source said, was causing disquiet between the two governments," it said.

But speaking to journalists, Kiraithe denied allegations that the special police squads were conducting parallel investigations and dismissed reports that some police officers were under investigations following fears that Mohammed was tipped before the police raided his hideout.