FCO changes Kenya travel advice - BBC News
The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice for Britons visiting coastal areas of Kenya, following two attacks on western tourists.
It now warns against all but essential travel to coastal areas within 150km (93 miles) of the Somali border instead of the previous 60km limit.
Last month, gunmen killed Briton David Tebbutt and kidnapped his wife Judith in in Kiwayu. She was taken to Somalia.
On Saturday, a French woman was taken by gunmen from the island of Manda.
The Foreign Office advice states: "We now advise against all but essential travel to within 150km (previously 60km) of the Kenya-Somalia border, including along the coast strip north of Pate Island towards Somali waters.
"Both attacks were on beach-front properties, with two Westerners kidnapped and one murdered. Beach-front accommodation in that area and boats off the coast are vulnerable.
"The advice is kept under constant review in the light of the situation on the ground."
The Somali government said Mrs Tebbutt, 56, from Hertfordshire, had been taken across the border into Somalia by Islamist insurgent group al-Shaba. It said it was doing everything in its power to gain her release.
The French woman was kidnapped by an armed gang on Kenya's northern resort island of Manda and taken to Somalia, Kenyan officials said.
The disabled woman, 66, was attacked at her bungalow at Ras Kitau. Kenya's government said it believed the abductors were al-Shabab militants.
Somalia has been racked by fighting between various militias for two decades, so weapons are widely available and there are many armed groups who could be responsible.
Correspondents say al-Shabab has not previously seized foreigners far from its own territory, while the numerous pirate gangs normally kidnap ships and their crew for ransom rather than operating on land.
02 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEw-FYXBs1XnWN5evTrJDAnxV5joA&url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-15140249
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