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US Embassy in Kenya requests security upgrade

By WTOP Staff

JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. ambassador in Kenya is requesting additional security assistance and reducing the number of people stationed at the embassy because of an increase in security threats.

Ambassador Robert Godec sent a letter to embassy staff Friday saying he has requested assistance from the Kenyan police and State Department. Godec said additional police are patrolling the embassy vicinity and that more assets will arrive from Washington next week.

The embassy is also reducing its staffing numbers.

The embassy warned this week that it was taking new security steps because of recent threat information concerning the international community. Militants from al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group in Somalia, are blamed for an increasing number of terror attacks in Kenya.

Al-Qaida bombed the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998, killing more than 200 people.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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