The Hindu : Suicide attack on Kenya hotel, missiles fired at Israeli plane

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 29, 2002

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Suicide attack on Kenya hotel, missiles fired at Israeli plane

An aerial view of the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, near Mombasa, Kenya, after it was devastated in an explosion.

MOMBASA (Kenya) Nov. 28. Suicide bombers blew up a hotel full of Israelis in Kenya today, killing 14 persons minutes after missiles narrowly missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby, in an apparently synchronised attack.

Israeli and Kenyan officials swiftly blamed the Al-Qaeda network, while the previously unheard-of ``Army of Palestine'' sent a claim of responsibility to Reuters. Police said they were questioning two persons near the scene of the hotel bomb.

Witnesses spoke of Israeli tourists and other survivors, streaked with blood and dust, staggering to the beach from the shattered Mombasa Paradise resort hotel and screaming for water after the attackers rammed a car bomb into the lobby. There were discrepancies in the casualty figures. ``There should be initial indications that 14 persons have died,'' Kenya's Interior Minister, Julius Sunkuli, said.

Wreckage of the bombers' car was left 15 metres from the smouldering rubble of the entrance to the hotel, reported to be Israeli-owned, where most guests were Israeli. ``Around 7:30, we heard a massive explosion. The entire building shook,'' Kelly Hartog, a witness, wrote on the website of Israel's Jerusalem Post. ``I saw people covered with blood, including children. Everyone seemed to be screaming."

Minutes before the hotel blast, missiles were fired at an Israeli Arkia airliner, carrying 261 passengers as it took off from Mombasa's airport. ``About two km from the airport, two missiles were fired at the aircraft from a white Pajero (jeep) by some people who are suspected to be of Arab origin. Both missiles missed the aircraft,'' the police spokesman, Kimgori Mwangi, said.

``We spotted two white smoke trails passing us on the left side, from the rear to the front, and disappearing after a few seconds,'' the pilot, Rafi Marik, said.

A Kenyan security source said it was believed the attackers used shoulder-borne missile launchers. The hotel attackers were also described as bearing Arab features and driving a four-wheeled-drive Pajero they had turned into a suicide bomb.

Israeli and Kenyan officials were quick to accuse the Al-Qaeda network. If true, these would be the first direct attacks on Israelis by the Saudi fugitive, Osama bin Laden's group. A statement faxed to Reuters in Beirut, however, said the attacks were carried out by the ``Army of Palestine'' to mark the anniversary of the 1947 U.N. resolution partitioning Palestine between the Arabs and the Jews. There was no confirmation of the claim.

AP reports from Jerusalem:

Israel said that it would track down those responsible for the twin attacks, which Israeli officials said bore the hallmarks of the Al-Qaeda network. The Mossad spy agency, which has a long record of hunting terror suspects, will lead the investigation, officials said. ``Our hand will reach them,'' Israel's Defence Minister, Shaul Mofaz.

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