An al-Qaeda suspect accused of involvement in terroristattacks in Kenya in 2002 hasbeen handed over to US custody by Kenyan authoirites and transported to Guantanamo Bay.

Abdul Malik was transferred to the US military prison due to the "significantthreat" he represented, Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, toldreporters in Washington. 

He said Malik had admitted involvement in a hotel bombingand for trying to shoot down an Israeli jetliner with 271 people on board.

The attack on Mombassa's Hotel Paradise, a resort popularwith Israeli tourists, killed over a dozen people.

Whitman said Malik was held at a US military facility, not a secret CIA prison,and was interviewed by USlaw enforcement before being sent to Guantanamoover the weekend.

'Dangerous'

Abdul Malik is the first detainee to be transferredto Guantanamo since September 2006, when 14al-Qaeda suspects arrived from secret US prisons overseas.

Whitman said Abdul Malik wasconsidered "dangerous" but not of "high-value", a termUS officials use for captured suspects who have a significant effect onal-Qaeda operations and are capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

"He is a one of these support figures in the al-QaedaEast Africa network. He knows some veryimportant people," another unnamed American official said.

Kenya hasrounded up scores of suspected Islamist fighters and supporters since a warended a six-month Islamist rule of Mogadishu andsouthern Somalia.

Source:Agencies