Three female university students were charged on Monday in Kenya for planning to join the Al-Shabaab militant group, after they were arrested in a border town en route to Somalia.

The three, one Tanzanian and two Kenyans, below 21 years old, appeared in the court in the port city of Mombasa, but were not allowed to make a plea.

Senior Resident Magistrate for Mombasa, Irene Ruguru, announced the court grants police another 20 days to complete the investigation due to "the sensitivity of the case."

According to court reports, the Tanzanian Ummu-l-Khayr Sadir Abdulla, who were studying medicine in Africa University in Sudan, allegedly recruited the two Kenyans to join the Al-Shabaab to be "jihadist brides" through social media.

Police sources say that on Monday Adbulla flew to Kenya where they met and boarded a bus from Mombasa to Somalia before they were arrested by detectives who had been listening to their phone conversations for months.

The information seized from the three will help probe the extent of radicalization in universities and secondary schools in the country, police say.

Anti-terror police say they are on higher alert over possible attacks in the coastal city. Endi

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