Here is the NYT version of the Mombasa attack. They are finally coming up with shoulder fired missiles. If they have any here, we will probably find out about it today. Although with their penchant for timing, you would think they would have hit us at the same time. Now that I think about it, the timing of both attacks together is an Al Qaeda signature. I bet that this is part or all of the expected attack that has had the Internet buzzing.
November 28, 2002
11 Killed in Simultaneous Attacks on Israelis in Kenya
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:57 a.m. ET
KIKAMBALA, Kenya (AP) -- In simultaneous attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya, a car bomb exploded at an Israeli-owned hotel on Thursday, killing 11 people, and at least two missiles were fired at -- but missed -- an Israeli airliner.
A green all-terrain vehicle packed with explosives rammed into the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, 15 miles north of Mombasa, at about 8 a.m. just as a busload of Israeli tourists was checking in, witnesses said.
The blast ripped through the lobby, killing two Israelis, three bombers and six Kenyans, said Kenyan police spokesman Kingori Muanga. Most of the Kenyans were traditional dancers who were there to greet the tourists, said Abbas Gullet of the Kenyan Red Cross.
The Israeli government, however, said three Israelis were killed. About 80 other people were wounded, said John Sawe, the Kenyan ambassador to Israel.
At about the same time, two missiles streaked by a jetliner owned by the Arkia charter company as it left the Mombasa airport bound for Tel Aviv, the company said. The aircraft landed safely about 5 1/2 hours later in Tel Aviv.
None of the 261 passengers and 10 crew members were hurt, Israeli officials and TV reports said. Muanga said police were three suspects spotted about a mile from the airport in a white vehicle.
In the hotel attack, an all-terrain vehicle drove behind the bus carrying the Israeli tourists and slipped in the gate when guards opened it to admit it, Muanga said.
The blast set the building on fire, gutting it. An Associated Press reporter saw seven bodies burned beyond recognition. Rescue workers covered the bodies and searched for more casualties.
Yoav Biran, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's director general, said the death toll from the hotel attack could rise.
``We aren't sure this is the end, and there are quite a number of Israelis injured,'' Biran said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sawe said he suspected Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, which bombed the U.S. embassy in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in 1998.
``I don't have any doubt this is al-Qaida,'' Sawe said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that it was ``quite possible'' that al-Qaida was behind the attacks, but that Israel was also looking into other possibilities. He said he believed Palestinian militants have been trying to get shoulder-held missiles from Iran and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
Netanyahu called the missile attack ``a very dangerous escalation of terror.''
``It means that terror organizations and the regimes behind them are able to arm themselves with weapons which can cause mass casualties anywhere and everywhere,'' Netanyahu said. ``Today, they're firing the missiles at Israeli planes, tomorrow they'll fire missiles at American planes, British planes, every country's aircraft. Therefore, there can be no compromise with terror.''
The aircraft had just taken off from Mombasa airport when the pilot saw a flash of light to his left, said an Arkia official, Shlomo Hanael.
The pilot initially prepared for an emergency landing in Nairobi, Kenya, to check whether the plane was damaged, but after consultations with Israeli officials, it was decided to fly directly to Israel, Israel TV's Channel Two said. Hanael said there was no damage to the plane.
The Aug. 7, 1998, blast at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi killed 219 people -- including 12 Americans -- and wounded 5,000. A nearly simultaneous attack on the U.S. embassy in neighboring Tanzania killed 12 people and injured more than 80. The terrorists convicted in the attacks have been linked to the al-Qaida terror network. |
