NAIROBI, Kenya, March 13 (UPI) -- Kenyan police have arrested a man suspected of having close links to al-Qaida operatives wanted by U.S. authorities.
The identity of the suspect has not been disclosed, but the Daily Nation reported he was arrested in the coastal city of Mombasa and was being interrogated by Kenyan police and agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Police have linked the suspect to Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Harun Fazul and Taha Al-Sudani, three al-Qaida operatives who fled the Somali capital of Mogadishu when the Islamic Courts Union coalition was pushed out late last year by Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's Transitional Government.
Nabhan is believed to have participated in the 2002 terrorist attack on an Iraeli-own tourist resort in Mombasa and on an attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner taking off from the Kenyan city.
Kenya, a key regional ally of the United States for decades, borders Somalia. Its coastal region is mainly Muslim. The United States is preparing to establish a separate military combatant command for Africa, and Kenya is a likely location for its headquarters.
U.S. Marines are already deployed in the region, maintaining a presence in Djibouti.
The arrest of the main comes amid concern that Islamists may attempt a terrorist attack in Mombasa to coincide with the staging there of World Cross Country Championships.
