Islamist Group Denies Brit's Kenya Kidnap

The Somali Islamist group al Shabaab has denied being responsible for the kidnapping of a British woman at a beach resort in neighbouring Kenya.

Judith Tebbutt, 56, was taken from the Kiwayu Safari Village in the early hours of Sunday after her husband David, 58, was killed .

"Al Shabaab has not abducted any Briton from Kenya," the group said in a statement.

"We believe bandits carried out the attack."

An al Shabaab recruitment officer in Kismayu, in Somalia, said Judith Tebbutt had been brought to the city on Tuesday but that her whereabouts were now unknown.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron said the Government was doing everything possible in the "desperately tragic case".

Mr Cameron said the Foreign Secretary has met with the Tebbutt family and that a meeting of the emergency committee, Cobra, had taken place.

Concern has been growing for Mrs Tebbutt, who is believed to be deaf and wear a double hearing aid.

On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police said they had sent a team of officers to Kenya to assist the investigation .

Police in Kenya said they have arrested a man suspected of aiding the gunmen.

He is believed to have information about the person who organised the kidnapping.

The Kiwayu Safari Village issued a statement saying that everyone at the resort was "devastated" by what had happened.

It added they were "offering every assistance" to the authorities.