Is This For Real? Terror Attacks Thwarted During Clinton’s Nairobi Visit? *updated*

I just ran across this story which was headlined as “breaking news” on an the Kenyan news agency, The Nation- it essentially says a terrorist plot in Nairobi during Secretary Clinton’s visit there, was thwarted by authorities::

A group of terrorists operating from Somalia had planned three bomb attacks in Nairobi during the visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, the Sunday Nation can reveal.

A senior counter-terrorism official has recounted how the terrorists planned to stage simultaneous attacks at the Hotel InterContinental, the Kencom Bus Stage and the adjacent Hilton Hotel. Mrs Clinton stayed at the Hotel InterContinental during her visit.

The plan was hatched in Somalia and thwarted by Kenyan security officials who intercepted communication between the plotters and their accomplices in Nairobi.

The security official – whose identity cannot be revealed without compromising antiterrorism operations – said that the terrorists linked to the Al Shabaab group had wanted to embarrass Kenyan and US governments but their plans were thwarted before the attackers could cross the border.

“The threats were neutralised a week to the Agoa meeting in combined efforts by the military and other security agencies,” the official said. “The operation in Nairobi netted five crucial suspects, one of whom carries Danish identification documents but is believed to be a Somali national. The other four, one of whom is a woman, hold Kenyan identification documents believed to be fake. Investigations into their identity and plan are on…”

I looked over on CNN and BBC and I see nothing even referencing this story, so perhaps it’s not true and if that is the case while part of me is extremely glad no such plot existed, part of me thinks it’s highly irresponsible to print such a story.

I just googled and found the story in a Somali source, here. If it turns out to be false, I will remove the post because I don’t want to start terrible rumors.

UPDATE: It is now about 12 hrs since I posted this and I am still not seeing the story on BBC or CNN but I am getting emails from people, including from some currently in Nairobi, who say I should not assume at this stage, that this is *not* true- so thank you to those folks who cared enough to write. As soon as I see more coverage of this I’ll post it here.

UPDATE II: The story is moving a little on the internet but as far as I can tell it’s now new sourcing. Here it is at Earth Times.

UPDATE III: I’m starting to see more about this story now. Here’s more:

Police sources in Kenya have indicated that one of their suspects in a planned terror attack against Hillary Clinton was travelling on Danish papers

Kenyan police have arrested five suspects in a terror plot against US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One suspect was reportedly carrying a Danish passport.

According to Kenyan newspaper Sunday Nation, Clinton was to be the target of three bomb attacks when she visited the capital Nairobi last month.

Police sources told the paper that the suspects are Somalis connected to the militant Islamist terror organisation Al Shabab.

One of those arrested was a woman with a forged Kenyan passport while another was said to have been travelling on Danish identity papers.

The Danish ambassador in Nairobi, Bo Jensen, said that he had not been informed of any Danes being arrested for a plot against Clinton, but said he would look further into the case today…

UPDATE IV:
I saw that the story was mentioned over at Foreign Policy’s Madame Secretary. Additionally, I came across this video on YouTube and thought it was interesting in that it gives a few more details:

UPDATE V: I spoke with someone from ABC news who told me that the reason this story was not being covered in the US media was because his sources said there was nothing to the story. That said, I’ll keep my eyes open for more information if it becomes available.