"The US has asked Kenya to be allowed to join the investigations. We are on track and our Foreign Minister will issue a formal press statement on Somalia soon," Kenyan assistant foreign minister Moses Wetangula told journalists here Thursday.

Wetangula said Washington, which was accused of bankrolling former Mogadishu-based warlords, had requested Kenya, which chairs the seven nation regional mediating body, IGAD, to be allowed to join the probe team.

The Kenyan official said the Somali government which is internationally recognized, has not yet accepted the request.

"The United States government has asked us if they can be allowed to join their IGAD counterparts in the investigations. They have also written to the Somalia government. But its up to the Somali government to respond to the request but our plans as IGAD are still on course," Wetangula said.

In the aftermath of September 18 blasts and an ensuing gun battle that killed 11 people and wounded 19 but left President Yusuf unscathed, government officials said they were convinced al-Qaeda was behind the attack.

Security forces have interrogated two presumed attackers captured after the incident, but government spokesman Abdirahman Mohamed Nur Dinari said foreign expertise was needed to investigate the suspected al-Qaeda link

Source: Angola Press