Israeli, Kenyan, and American investigators' -- and almost
everyone else -- suspicion that al-Qaida was responsible for
last week's attacks in Mombasa, Kenya seemed borne out when
al-Qaida, in a statement published on an Islamist Web site,
took responsibility.
"The fighters of al-Qaida return to the same place where the
Crusader-Jewish coalition was hit four years ago," read the
statement, in reference the bloody attacks on the US
embassies in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, in
1998 where over 200 people were murdered.
Investigators initially suspected that al-Qaida was involved
in the attacks due to the well-planned simultaneous attacks
in two different locations: a large car bomb in an Israeli-
owned hotel in Mombassa, Kenya that murdered 12, and a
missile attack on an Israeli airliner 20 minutes earlier that
caused no damage. The scale of the attacks pointed to al-
Qaida and there is also no other known organization with the
resources, ruthlessness and motivation to act that way.
The authenticity of the statement, signed by the "Political
Office of Qaida al-Jihad" could not be confirmed. A Persian
Gulf media organization also received the statement.
The statement said the group's goal was to "attack the Jews
and to send them a message that their sins against the
Palestinians will not go unpunished."
Israel, Kenya, and the US fingered al-Qaida as the likely
culprit from the very start of the investigation, but the
statement was the first public acknowledgment.
It took the loosely affiliated terrorist group almost a year
to claim the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington,
while a similar amount of time lapsed until it claimed the
1998 bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
Other evidence that al-Qaida was involved came when it was
discovered that the two missile launchers used against the
airliner and later found near the Mombassa airport came from
the same production batch as a launcher used by an al-Qaida
operative to try to down a US military plane in Saudi Arabia
last May.
More recent models of the SA-7 "Strella" missile can be
purchased on the black market for as little as $20,000 and
have a range of up to 4.5 kilometers. Contrary to common
belief, slow-moving civilian airliners are more difficult to
shoot down with such heat-seeking missiles, because their
engines emit less heat than fighter jet engines and are
therefore harder for the warhead to locate and track.
A diplomatic crisis was averted when talks between Israeli
and Kenyan security officials yielded an agreement that Kenya
will allow Israel access to evidence from the attacks.
The were reports that Kenyan officials had refused to
cooperate with their Israeli counterparts in the
investigation. A Kenyan police official refused Israel's
request that it be given the rocket launchers and missile
casings, as well as parts of the SUV that exploded in the
hotel lobby. There was some public display of frustration, as
Israeli officials charged that the Kenyans possess neither
the technique nor the technology to complete the
investigation. However, the Israel Foreign Ministry quickly
worked to defuse the diplomatic row, saying that relations
are now running smoothly.
"We had several discussions with Kenya and the issue was
resolved," Foreign Ministry sources said. They said that
resolving the misunderstanding was simple once senior
officials were brought into the discussion.
In a related matter, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz revealed
that Israel foiled an attempt by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
network to infiltrate into the country.
"Al-Qaida has sent `octopus arms' not only into countries on
the other side of the ocean, but also to our region. As such,
it has made infiltration attempts into Israel," Mofaz told
reporters. "Such attempts were frustrated and prevented."
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, meanwhile,
said al-Qaida has Palestinian operatives in the territories.
"Al-Qaida has declared war on jihad infidels, making Israel
one of its main targets," he said.
