A British man accused of links to Somalia’s Islamist militants is to go on trial in Kenya for allegedly plotting a bomb attack.Jermaine Grant, 29, made his first appearance in court on Thursday, amid chaotic scenes in the coastal city of Mombasa.He was arrested last December and denies allegations that he possessed explosive materials.The Londoner has already been jailed for being in Kenya illegally. Kenyan government lawyer Jacob Ondari says the case failed to start Wednesday because Mr Grant’s criminal file was incomplete, reports the AP news agency.The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in Mombasa says Mr Grant sat expressionless in the dock.Police say that when they raided the house Mr Grant was staying in last year, they found ingredients needed to make a bomb: hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate, as well as batteries and electrical switches. The prosecution will allege that the 29-year-old was, together with three Kenyan co-defendants, plotting to detonate their explosives with the aim of killing civilians. A recent report by security think-tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) claimed Britons accounted for about 50 of the estimated 200 foreigners fighting with the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda.A high-profile conference on Somalia organised by the British government earlier this year was prompted, in part, by the fear of what these battle-hardened and radicalised young men might do if they return to the UK, our correspondent says.
