TERROR IN KENYA
Nov 28, 2002
<b>MOMBASA, Kenya,</b> Thursday - Fifteen people were killed on Thursday morning when a suicide car bomb exploded in a hotel near the Kenyan resort city of Mombasa.
Suicide bombers kill 15 in Israeli hotel in Mombasa
MOMBASA, Kenya, Thursday - Fifteen people were killed on Thursday morning when a suicide car bomb exploded in a hotel near the Kenyan resort city of Mombasa.
Within minutes of the hotel blast, missiles were fired at an Israeli Arkia airliner carrying 261 passengers as it took off from Mombasa's airport. The missiles narrowly missed their target.
Witnesses spoke of bloodied survivors staggering to the beach from the shattered Mombasa Paradise resort hotel and screaming for water. Most of the guests at the hotel were believed to be Israelis.
“There are 13 dead, three Israelis and 10 Africans as well as 18 Israelis hospitalised,†Yehuda Sulamani, the Israeli manager of Paradise Mombasa Hotel, told AFP. “I can see eight bodies in the lobby. Most appear to be adult men,†a witness said outside the wrecked hotel soon after the blast. By press time, the toll had hit 15, police said.
Two Israeli children were among the dead, Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Some 140 tourists were at the 350-room hotel when the bomb went off, he said.
The Police said two of the dead were Israelis, six Kenyans and three bombers, while another 18 people have been hospitalised. Kenyan police spokesman King’ori Mwangi described the bombing as a “terror†attack.
A hitherto unknown group, Army of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the blast.
Two people were arrested in Mombasa following the suicide bombing, police said. “The Police have arrested and detained two people and they are being interrogated now,†Omar Shuria, the deputy administration police commander of Coast Province told AFP.
The Police said the attackers rammed their car into the hotel reception, killing themselves. Eighty people were wounded, Kenya’s ambassador to Israel said.
The hotel is owned by foreign investors from different countries, including the United States and Israel, he added.
Most of the wreckage of the bombers’ car was left 15 metres from the entrance. A human jaw lay on the ground near the mangled metal.
“Around 7:30, we heard a massive explosion. The entire building shook. From what I can gather, a car crashed through the gates of the hotel and into the lobby,†witness Kelly Hartog wrote on the Web site of Israel’s Jerusalem Post.
“About two kilometres (1.5 miles) from the airport, two missiles were fired at the aircraft from a white Pajero by some people who are suspected to be of Arab origin. Both missiles missed the aircraft,†Kenya police spokesman said.
“They got clean away,†a security source said, adding it was believed there were four men in the car.
Hartog said she had arrived at the Paradise just two minutes before the blast. “I saw people covered with blood, including children. Everyone seemed to be screaming. From the dining room we were herded out to the beach. There were no medics.
“People were screaming for water, but there was no bottled water and the tap water is undrinkable. Our guide was missing. He has now been missing for three hours.
“I tried to occupy myself tending to the children. ‘I want to go home,’ they said. ‘Where are my parents?â€â€™
The hotel attackers, Mwangi said, were also described as of Arab appearance and also driving a white four-wheel drive Pajero they had turned into a suicide bomb.
“Just after a group of tourists were brought to the hotel, I saw a white Pajero forcing its way into the gate,†said a barman at a hotel across the road, adding the attack happened at about 8:30am.
“It had three people of Arab origin and after it got to the reception area I heard an explosion and the whole hotel was on fire,†the barman said.
Israeli and Kenyan officials were quick to blame the attacks on the al Qaeda network, blamed by Washington of mounting the September 11 attacks last year on the United States and for the bloody 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
A Muslim cleric said in London on Thursday that Islamic militants sympathetic to al Qaeda warned of an attack on Kenya one week ago. Ends
See related stories National pages 3
MOMBASA, Kenya, Thursday - Fifteen people were killed on Thursday morning when a suicide car bomb exploded in a hotel near the Kenyan resort city of Mombasa.
Within minutes of the hotel blast, missiles were fired at an Israeli Arkia airliner carrying 261 passengers as it took off from Mombasa's airport. The missiles narrowly missed their target.
Witnesses spoke of bloodied survivors staggering to the beach from the shattered Mombasa Paradise resort hotel and screaming for water. Most of the guests at the hotel were believed to be Israelis.
“There are 13 dead, three Israelis and 10 Africans as well as 18 Israelis hospitalised,†Yehuda Sulamani, the Israeli manager of Paradise Mombasa Hotel, told AFP. “I can see eight bodies in the lobby. Most appear to be adult men,†a witness said outside the wrecked hotel soon after the blast. By press time, the toll had hit 15, police said.
Two Israeli children were among the dead, Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Some 140 tourists were at the 350-room hotel when the bomb went off, he said.
The Police said two of the dead were Israelis, six Kenyans and three bombers, while another 18 people have been hospitalised. Kenyan police spokesman King’ori Mwangi described the bombing as a “terror†attack.
A hitherto unknown group, Army of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the blast.
Two people were arrested in Mombasa following the suicide bombing, police said. “The Police have arrested and detained two people and they are being interrogated now,†Omar Shuria, the deputy administration police commander of Coast Province told AFP.
The Police said the attackers rammed their car into the hotel reception, killing themselves. Eighty people were wounded, Kenya’s ambassador to Israel said.
The hotel is owned by foreign investors from different countries, including the United States and Israel, he added.
Most of the wreckage of the bombers’ car was left 15 metres from the entrance. A human jaw lay on the ground near the mangled metal.
“Around 7:30, we heard a massive explosion. The entire building shook. From what I can gather, a car crashed through the gates of the hotel and into the lobby,†witness Kelly Hartog wrote on the Web site of Israel’s Jerusalem Post.
“About two kilometres (1.5 miles) from the airport, two missiles were fired at the aircraft from a white Pajero by some people who are suspected to be of Arab origin. Both missiles missed the aircraft,†Kenya police spokesman said.
“They got clean away,†a security source said, adding it was believed there were four men in the car.
Hartog said she had arrived at the Paradise just two minutes before the blast. “I saw people covered with blood, including children. Everyone seemed to be screaming. From the dining room we were herded out to the beach. There were no medics.
“People were screaming for water, but there was no bottled water and the tap water is undrinkable. Our guide was missing. He has now been missing for three hours.
“I tried to occupy myself tending to the children. ‘I want to go home,’ they said. ‘Where are my parents?â€â€™
The hotel attackers, Mwangi said, were also described as of Arab appearance and also driving a white four-wheel drive Pajero they had turned into a suicide bomb.
“Just after a group of tourists were brought to the hotel, I saw a white Pajero forcing its way into the gate,†said a barman at a hotel across the road, adding the attack happened at about 8:30am.
“It had three people of Arab origin and after it got to the reception area I heard an explosion and the whole hotel was on fire,†the barman said.
Israeli and Kenyan officials were quick to blame the attacks on the al Qaeda network, blamed by Washington of mounting the September 11 attacks last year on the United States and for the bloody 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
A Muslim cleric said in London on Thursday that Islamic militants sympathetic to al Qaeda warned of an attack on Kenya one week ago. Ends
See related stories National pages 3