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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Briton Jermaine Grant on trial over Kenya 'bomb plot'

Jermaine GrantA British man accused of links to Somalia's Islamist militants has gone on trial in Kenya for allegedly plotting a bomb attack.
Jermaine Grant, 29, made his first appearance in court on Thursday, amid chaotic scenes in the coastal city of Mombasa.
He was arrested last December and denies allegations that he possessed explosive materials.
The Londoner has already been jailed for being in Kenya illegally.
Kenyan government lawyer Jacob Ondari says the case failed to start Wednesday because Mr Grant's criminal file was incomplete, reports the AP news agency.
After more delays on Thursday morning, the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, in the Mombasa court, says the first prosecution witness has now started to give evidence.
Police say that when they raided the house Mr Grant was staying in last year, they found ingredients needed to make a bomb: hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate, as well as batteries and electrical switches.
The prosecution will allege that the 29-year-old was, together with three Kenyan co-defendants, plotting to detonate their explosives with the aim of killing civilians.
A recent report by security think-tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) claimed Britons accounted for about 50 of the estimated 200 foreigners fighting with the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.
A high-profile conference on Somalia organised by the British government earlier this year was prompted, in part, by the fear of what these battle-hardened and radicalised young men might do if they return to the UK, our correspondent says.
Mr Grant, from Newham in east London, was first detained in Kenya near the Somali border in 2008, but escaped police custody.
He is said to have been sprung from a police station by a group of militants belonging to al-Shabab.
Last October, Kenya sent troops into Somalia to pursue the group, blaming it for a recent wave of abductions which threatened its tourism industry.
Al-Shabab denied any involvement and said the Kenyan incursion was an act of war and it would take revenge.
The group is now under pressure on a number of military fronts in the south of Somalia - but still mounts frequent attacks and controls much of the country.
This year the African Union force in Somalia, which supports the UN-backed interim government, was boosted from 12,000 troops to nearly 18,000 to incorporate the Kenyan troops.-BBC.


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