The Foreign Office has warned travellers to Kenya to be “extra vigilant”, after 60 Somali militia died in cross-border fighting.
It said hotels, shopping centres and beaches could no longer be regarded as safe for visitors and warned against terrorist attacks.
Previous advice was for travellers to stay away from the border where a French woman was kidnapped in October.
Briton Judith Tebbutt, 56, is still missing in Somalia.
Kenyan authorities said yesterday that they had thwarted attempted attacks by an al-Qaeda-linked Somali militant group over Christmas and the New Year.
A Kenyan military spokesman, said officials received intelligence from credible sources that the Somali militant group al-Shabab was planning an attack over Christmas and New Year.
He said Kenyan troops in Somalia made pre-emptive strikes on different targets in Somalia based on that information.
"We carried out pre-emptive strikes and disruptive strikes in Somalia and police secured things here at home and as a result of that we were able to have peaceful Christmas and New Year festivities," the spokesman said.
Kenyan troops entered Somalia in mid-October to attack the militants, and have been supported by the country's weak army.
Al-Shabab, Somalia's most dangerous militant group, is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government.
Ethiopian troops recently entered Somalia on the country's west, and they along with African Union troops in Mogadishu are squeezing al-Shabab fighters on three sides.
The group has said it will carry out suicide bombings in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in retaliation for Kenya's military incursion.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the July 2010 suicide attacks in Kampala, Uganda which killed 76 people watching the World Cup final.
The Foreign Office said attacks could be indiscriminate and could target places where expatriates and foreign travelers gather, including hotels, shopping centers and beaches.
Kenyan police also said they want to apprehend a British national, who is believed to have links to al-Shabab.
A Kenyan court issued a warrant for the woman’s arrest on Wednesday. There were no details on why she is wanted by the police.
Source: www.mirror.co.uk
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