(Adds background)

NAIROBI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Somali Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has surrendered to Kenyan authorities at the Somali border, Somali intelligence officials and Western diplomats said on Monday.

Ahmed, considered a moderate in the Islamist movement ousted from power by Somali and Ethiopian forces in late December, surrendered on Sunday and was in Kenyan custody, they said.

If confirmed, Ahmed would be the highest-ranking Islamist to surrender so far.

"We understand that Sheikh Sharif did surrender at the border on the 21st," a Western diplomat said. A second Western diplomat confirmed the information as did a top Somali intelligence official.

"They captured him in the Liboi area. He's under U.S. protection," the Somali intelligence official said.

Kenyan authorities had no immediate comment.

Liboi is a Kenya border crossing near the southern tip of Somalia, where Ethiopian and Somali troops have been hunting Islamist remnants, and where the United States conducted an air strike against what it called al Qaeda operatives two weeks ago.

The U.S. embassy in Kenya, responsible for Somalia, had no immediate comment on Ahmed.

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