Kenya raises security level ahead of Africa Athletics Championships

Security has been beefed up in Nairobi as the city prepares to welcome over 1,500 athletes and officials who will be arriving for the Africa Athletics Championship due to begin next Wednesday.

Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said the recent bomb attacks in Kampala, Uganda which targeted fans watching the finals of the football World Cup had forced the government to raise the security level status.

Teams from neighboring Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia, nations that have sent peacekeepers to Somalia, are said to be targeted by Somali militant group that claimed responsibility for the twin blasts in Kampala.

The Al Qaeda-inspired group Al-Shabab who claimed the attacks, the region's worst in 12 years, said they were in retaliation for Uganda's leading role in the AU's mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The LOC has appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Police Alfred Ombaba to head the security team which has already moved in to secure the teams in the country covering their training and stay in hotels.

Already teams from Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Senegal, Namibia and Botswana are in the country.