Kenyans have borne the brunt of al-Qaeda attacks in the region

The al-Qaeda network or its sympathisers could attack countries in East Africa, the United States and British Governments have warned.

Officials said the warning was based on specific new information that they had received, but gave no more details.

The British Foreign Office is upgrading its travel advice at a time of increased tension due to the Iraq crisis.

The US State Department has updated an alert first issued in early January, adding ports to a lengthy list of possible targets.

Both countries have told their citizens travelling to countries such as Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia to be vigilant in areas frequented by foreigners such as hotels, nightclubs, restaurants and shopping malls.

African deaths

Al-Qaeda has been blamed for three deadly attacks in East Africa in recent years.

A car bomb attack on the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, on 28 November last year, claimed the lives of 15 people in a resort being visited by Israelis.

Nairobi had its own Ground Zero

Most of the dead were Kenyans.

An unsuccessful attempt was also made to down an Israeli airliner with a surface-to-air missile at the same time.

In 1998, the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed, killing 224 people, most of whom were Kenyan.

The US has recently set up an anti-terror unit in Djibouti to monitor the operations of groups with alleged links to the al-Qaeda network in the Horn of Africa.

But it is not clear what governments of countries like Kenya are themselves doing to beef up security and alert their citizens to possible attacks.

The upgraded British Foreign Office travel advice did not go as far as warning against non-essential travel to the region.