A NEW WAVE OF TERROR TAKES GLOBAL FORM
by Elio J. Principe
It appears that al Queda terrorist organization is taking its campaign of murder and mayhem on a gloabal scale. Officals termed a hotel bombing and a missile fired at a commercial airliner in Kenya a highly organized dual attack on Israeli and Western tourists. It was orchestrated to inflict mass casualties on organized terror's targets and it did just that. It is believed that this represents the newest wave of attacks those they oppose. They appear to concentrate on terrorist hits against Americans, British and Israelis anywhere and everywhere they are. Many were surprised that Kenya was the latest host to such horrific turmoil.
Experts believe that al Qaeda was directly responsible for the terrorist attacks. One of the three suicide terrorists who killed more than a dozen people in a hotel bombing in Kenya was identified by Israeli intelligence as Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah. This name matches one of the most wanted al Qaeda terrorists sought by the FBI.
The name of another of the bombers (Faed Ali Sayam, a Kenyan Muslim) is similar to the name of a wanted al Qaeda terrorist. Both of the men were indicted in connection with the deadly 1998 twin U.S. embassy bombings in Africa that killed 224 people.
Thirteen people and the three bombers were killed in the hotel attack. The missiles missed the Arkia Boeing 757 and it arrived safely in Tel Aviv after the pilot reported seeing smoke trails behind the airplane seconds after takeoff.
Rescue workers put the number of wounded at 26, 13 of them Kenyans and 13 Israelis. Screaming children covered in blood searched desperately for their parents amid the wreckage, witnesses said. Some of the wounded were hurt by glass flying into their rooms, and others were burned beyond recognition. Of those still alive, many were desperately seeking water.
The owner of the Paradise Hotel in Malindi, north of Mombasa, said three men fought with security guards before driving into the hotel. Officials said at about 8:30 a.m. local time a vehicle pulled up to the entrance of the hotel and was refused entry. The men reversed and drove through the gate and into the reception area, causing the huge explosion that tore through the building.
The Bush administration has offered assistance to Israel and Kenya, and a couple of foreign national investigators working for the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi have been dispatched to support the investigation in Mombasa. The attacks were immediately condemned by world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who collectively called on the world to take immediate and sustained steps to eradicate the infrastructure of terrorism and violence that has wrought such tragic bloodshed.
Kenya has seen previous terrorist attacks against Western interests. On August 7, 1998, a blast at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi killed 219 people 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 United States sentenced four men to life in prison without parole for their roles in the attacks. It accused them of having links to Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network, who were also blamed for the September 11 attacks.
Mombasa is used by U.S. Navy vessels assigned to the Indian Ocean. Although the ships bring dollars to the city of 1 million people, many of the mostly Muslim residents resent Americans. Muslims are a minority in Kenya as a whole, officially accounting for 10 percent of the country's 29 million people.
The new wave of terror issued by al Qaeda suggests that Western interests will be likely under extreme risk overseas particularly in fragile governments that either are unable to control or contain terrorism. Kenya, like Afghnistan, has a long, largely unprotected border which makes it easy for terrorists to cross into and set up transition camps. If such attacks are to be curbed in the future, it will take a global effort. It will take a concerted and organized campaign by world leaders and governments to wage an effective war against organized terror.
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