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To: goldworldnet who wrote (448)	1/8/2004 9:07:14 AM
From: goldworldnet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6227

Bid to down Israeli jet described in Kenya's first terrorism trial Thursday January 8, 1:43 AM sg.news.yahoo.com The landmark trial of three Kenyans charged with conspiring to carry out several terrorist attacks in Kenya opened in Nairobi, when witnesses described an attempt to shoot down an Israeli tourist jet in Mombasa in 2002. It was the first time a Kenyan court had heard evidence about such incidents, which include the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi in August 1998, when 213 people including 12 US citizens were killed. Responsibility for that bombing, which took place the same day as an attack on the US embassy in Tanzania, where 11 people died, was claimed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. In 2001 a court in New York passed life sentences on four al-Qaeda members found guilty of involvement in these bombings. The suspects in court Wednesday, Mohammed Kubwa Seif, Said Saggar Ahmed and Salmin Mohammed Khamis, are accused of plotting the Nairobi attack and the November 28, 2002 car-bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa and the near-simultaneous attempt to down the tourist jet with shoulder-fired missiles. Twelve Kenyans, three Israelis and three presumed bombers died in the hotel attack. The three are also accused of plotting to bomb the new American embassy between November 2002 and June last year -- an attack that never took place. Wednesday's court proceedings began with a series of witnesses giving evidence about the airport incident as well as background information about the accused. "I saw a plane with the inscription 'Aki Air' on take-off and in its wake two things that looked like jet fighters follow it before moving away from the plane and disappearing in the sky," said Suleiman Rashid, the first witness. Rashid, a farmer who lives near the Mombasa airport, told the magistrate's court in Kiswahili that he had also seen two blue tubes, supposedly the rocket launchers that lay not far from his farm. One of these was produced in court as exhibit. The second witness, Emmanuel Karama, said he heard a "huge explosion" and saw "two objects" follow the plane. Another witness, Mtawali Karani, described the objects that followed the plane as "rockets", but when challenged by the defence lawyers to say what he knew of rockets, he admitted that he had only seen them "in the cinema". Karani, a fisherman, said the projectile he saw in the sky "produced thick blue smoke". Another witnesses Saidi Ndegwa also spoke of of seeing two objects that produced smoke in their wake. At one point defence lawyer Wandugi Karathe protested that the evidence being given had nothing to do with the conspiracy charges. "The evidence so far produced does not suggest a conspiracy ... it is not relevant to the charge," said Karathe. "We are here to produce all the evidence, to try to establish that the events happened," countered prosecutor Edwin Okello. Chief Magistrate Aggrey Muchelule said that although "you dont need five farmers to say they saw the plane", the evidence was relevant. "We are dealing with very serious matters," he said. Air traffic controller Vicent Opondo said the pilot of the Israeli plane shouted "Tower Fire" apparently after the alleged missiles were fired, but failed to respond subsequent questions from Opondo seeking further details. Two of the witnesses were able to pick out Abdul Karim, one of the men sought by the FBI in connection with the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, from sheet of paper with six photographs. They said they attended Karim's wedding to Amina Kubwa, the daughter of Seif, the first accused, near the coastal town of Lamu in December 2002. The trial was adjourned until Thursday. The hearing of the case of four other suspects charged with murder over the Mombasa hotel bombing will begin on January 26. * * *