NAIROBI, Kenya — France said Monday it would ferry supplies to Kenyan troops fighting an Islamist militia in Somalia while police investigated whether a grenade attack on a Nairobi bar was the first retaliatory strike against Kenya by the Somali group.
The announcement of the French assistance, made in Paris by a military spokesman, marks a significant step-up of international involvement in the fight against al-Shabab, a group that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and controls much of southern Somalia. The group has been rocked by an offensive by African Union forces that reclaimed control of parts of Somalia’s capital, Moga dishu, in recent weeks and by Kenya’s military intervention, which began in mid-October after Somali gunmen kidnapped four European women in Kenya.
Al-Shabab has threatened to launch suicide bombings inside Kenya in retaliation, and a grenade attack that injured a dozen people at a working-class Nairobi pub early Monday heightened those fears. Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said there were no suspects yet.
The Associated Press
