U.S. embassy official attacked in Kenya

NAIROBI, Sep 18 (Reuters) A U.S. embassy official was seriously wounded after being shot in the chest in Kenya's crime-ridden capital, an embassy spokeswoman said today.

The weekend incident was the third reported attack on a diplomatic official in Kenya this year.

''It happened between Friday night and Saturday morning in Nairobi,'' Jennifer Barnes, a spokeswoman with the embassy told Reuters. ''He was shot in the chest. His condition is stable but bad.'' Barnes could not confirm whether the man was a military attache and was shot in a carjacking incident as reported in local media.

Carjackings, robberies and rapes are common in Kenya where the capital city has been nicknamed ''Nairobbery''.

In August, Valery Egoshkin, the Russian ambassador to Kenya was stabbed by criminals when he stopped by the roadside to attend to a sick grand child. In another incident, a Danish embassy official's eye was gouged out by criminals.

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