Israel says Kenya lacks means to probe twin attack

Israel said yesterday that Kenya lacked the facilities and expertise to investigate the twin attacks there on an Israeli hotel and airliner.

Police in the east African country said they had disagreed with Israel over control of key evidence.

But both countries played down tensions over the probe into Thursday's attacks - a suicide bombing that killed 16 people at the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel in Mombasa and a failed missile attack on an Israeli passenger plane.

"If this was Great Britain or the US or France or any other Western country, it would have been easier to conduct an investigation, but under these conditions, they don't have the facilities or the expertise and so most of the work must be done by our investigators and the US team that is there," said Raanan Gissin, senior adviser to Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.

"We are not quarrelling with anyone. They have extended their hospitality. They have allowed us to conduct an investigation.... We get access to what we want. The problem is not the parts. The problem is to find the clue," he insisted.

The tensions surfaced as the leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia prepared for security talks with US President George W. Bush in Washington this week after the United States warned of more attacks in the Horn of Africa.

Sharon, Israel's prime minister, has ordered the Mossad spy agency to hunt down those responsible for the attack, which killed three Israelis, and sent investigators to look for clues at the bombed-out hotel.

US officials suspect Thursday's attacks were the work of the Somali-based al-Itihad al-Islamiya group, which they say has links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Israel has named al Qaeda the prime suspect in the attacks. Al Qaeda has been the target of Washington's "war on terrorism" since last year's September 11 attacks on the United States.

William Langat, a senior police officer heading the Kenyan investigation, said Israeli investigator Israel Green had complained that the Kenyans were not cooperating.

"He came to me saying there had been a refusal by my officers to hand over some specimens, but I told him I had not seen a formal request," Langat said.

He said the Israelis wanted to take away soil samples, parts of the car used in the suicide attack, and ash from the site.

"We are willing to share everything provided the right procedures are used," he said.

Kenyan police have held six Pakistanis and four Somalis for questioning since Thursday's attacks but say they have found no links to al Qaeda or to al-Itihad.

"We cannot say they are being held on terrorism charges. We have no evidence to support that type of charge," Langat said. He said the 10 did not have proper identity papers and were accused of entering the country illegally.

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi's visit to Washington had been scheduled before the twin attacks. Moi was to fly to London late yesterday and the pro-government Kenya Times newspaper said he would hold talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Diplomats in the region said they expected Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to join Moi and Bush for talks in Washington. Zenawi's visit has not been announced officially.

Experts have called Africa a blind spot in Bush's declared war on terrorism - with unrest, poverty and lax security creating breeding grounds for the international guerrillas of radical Islam.

Washington says it has received information that similar attacks may be launched in tiny Djibouti, which borders Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. US forces were due to hold long-scheduled exercises off the Kenyan coast from tomorrow.