IS claims US embassy attack in Nairobi

The Islamic State group says one of its followers carried out an attack on a police officer near the US Embassy in Nairobi.

Kenyan police officer stands guard at the scene where a man was shot dead by Kenyan police in front of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, 27 October 2016. Source: EPA

A follower of Islamic State was responsible for an attack last week on a Kenyan police officer outside a US embassy in Nairobi, the jihadist group's Amaq news agency says.

A knife-wielding man whom police described as a criminal was shot dead outside the embassy in Nairobi last Thursday after he attacked and injured a Kenyan police officer.

"The person who carried out the stabbing of a guard outside the American embassy in Nairobi last Thursday was a soldier of Islamic State responding to calls to target coalition countries," Amaq said.