Update | Israel warned Kenyan officials of impending attack before mall incident
Ministers received intelligence on impending assault, but did not act to prevent it, sources say
Kenya's government had been warned, including by Israel, of the high risk of an attack before Islamist gunmen's deadly assault on a Nairobi mall, security sources said yesterday.
Cabinet ministers and the army chief had received information warning of a plan to carry out a major attack, officials said, confirming an intelligence report leaked in Kenyan newspapers.
"Israel had warned of attacks on their business interests, but apart from just being tossed from one office to another, nothing was taken out of the intelligence reports," said one official.
On September 21, gunmen with automatic weapons and grenades burst into the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi in an attack that lasted four days and left at least 67 dead.
The reported that the treasury, interior, foreign affairs and defence ministers, as well as the army chief, had been told of an elevated risk.
The Westgate mall, popular with expatriates and wealthy Kenyans, is partly owned by Israelis and had long been considered a prime potential target.
