“Soldiers found 100 kg of highly explosive TNT in their vehicle along with six suicide vests.” This looks as if the jihadis were planning another large scale mass murder attack, a la the Westgate Mall jihad massacre.
“Kenyan military kill five militants, seize TNT explosives,” by Joseph Akwiri, Reuters, October 20, 2014:
MOMBASA, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Kenyan soldiers have killed five suspected al Shabaab militants near the border with Ethiopia and recovered a vehicle packed with explosives, preventing a potentially huge attack, a defence spokesman said on Monday.
Kenyan forces intercepted the five men in their car on Saturday in the northern frontier town of Moyale, and ordered them to stop, spokesman Bongita Ongeri said. The militants opened fire and were killed in the shootout.
Soldiers found 100 kg of highly explosive TNT in their vehicle along with six suicide vests.
“Those were chemicals that would be used to make dangerous explosives capable of mass destruction,” Ongeri told Reuters….
The incident came just days after the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia warned of a possible attack by al Shabaab there, and urged its nationals to avoid large crowds and hotels and restaurants in an upscale district of the Ethiopian capital.
It was not clear if the militants had precise plans for an attack in Kenya, but the shootout came as Kenyans were preparing to celebrate a holiday on Monday in honour of those who fought for its independence.