Kenya Charges Man For Alleged 'Attack' Plot

W300

A Kenyan man has been charged with receiving Iranian training in Iraq to carry out attacks in the east African country.

Kenyan police say Yassin Sambai Juma, 25, was trained by Iran's elite Quds Force -- claims denied by Tehran, and was charged in court on Monday.

He was arrested along with another Kenyan man in Nairobi last month, Abubakar Sadiq Louw, 69, who has not been charged.

The charge sheet only mentions Iraq.

Juma is accused of having traveled to Karbala in Iraq where he "received training or instruction in the practice of military exercise... for the preparation to engage in the commission of a terrorist act."

Police chief Joseph Boinett last month said he believed the two arrested men had traveled to Iran several times.

"We have irrefutable evidence they were recruited into an Iranian spying ring," Boinett said after the arrests, claiming the men plotted "terror attacks" in Nairobi.

Iran's embassy in Kenya has denied any links to the two Kenyan men.

Iranians are treated with particular suspicion in Kenya, which is a close ally of Israel.

In May 2013, a Kenyan court sentenced two Iranians to life in prison on terror-related charges, including possessing explosives allegedly to be used in bomb attacks.