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Mike Burris
Cambridge, Massachusetts


Attacks on Israelis in Kenya Kill 11
1 hour, 37 minutes ago

By LUBAINA KHER, Associated Press Writer

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.

[Photo]
AP Photo

A green all-terrain vehicle packed with explosives
rammed through the gate of the Paradise Hotel in
Kikambala, 15 miles north of Mombasa, at about 8 a.m.,
police said. One man jumped out and blew himself up
inside the hotel, while the others detonated the
vehicle out front, witnesses said.

The blasts killed two Israelis, three bombers and six
Kenyans, said Kenyan police spokesman Jesse Mituki.
Most of the Kenyans were traditional dancers who were
performing for 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.

King'ori Mwangi, another police spokesman, said two
missile casings were found near the airport. He said
there were three or four men with Arab features seen
in a white vehicle that fled the scene.

"It looks like a coordinated attack," Mituki said.

The aircraft landed safely about 5 1/2 hours later in
Tel Aviv. None of the 261 passengers and 10 crew
members was hurt.

Yehuda Sulami, the Paradise Hotel's director, said the
vehicle smashed through a gate outside the hotel. When
it reached the lobby, one man got out, ran into the
reception area and set off an explosion, killing
himself, Sulami said.

He said the other two stayed in the vehicle, which
exploded.

Hotel staff also saw a light plane circling over the
hotel at the time of the explosion, he said. Three
packages, which staff said were bombs, were dropped
from the plane, one landing in the hotel pool, one on
the roof and one in the ocean, he said.

Earlieer, Mwangi had said the vehicle slipped in when
the gate was opened to admit a busload of tourists,
but he later said it crashed through the gate.

A fire gutted the hotel, an 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 (news - web
sites)'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 (news -
web sites ) 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.

Passengers said they heard a loud boom and felt the
plane shake just after takeoff.

"It felt like something fell off the wing," Kerry
Levy, 25.

Crew members did not explain what happened until just
before landing at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International
Airport.

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.

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