The United States has renewed its terrorism alert for east Africa. The advisory, issued by the American state department in Washington, was to remind US citizens that Islamic extremists were active and may be plotting attacks in east Africa.On Tuesday, the US statement department said: "This (alert) is being re-issued to remind Americans of the continuing potential for terrorist actions against US citizens in east Africa, particularly along the east African coast.
"A small number of al-Qaeda operatives and other extremists are believed to be operating in and around east Africa."
It said Americans travelling to the region should be careful, "considering the threat". The alert replaces an existing November 18 warning, was released on Friday, and re-issued by the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday.
The US state department said East Africa had been the site of several al-Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks over the past seven years - including the near simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998. It also said that the US feared Somalia was becoming a haven for groups such as al-Qaeda.