Terror Strikes Again
Attacks on U.S. embassies prompt new fears--and a vow of retribution
Double-duty embassy. Bin Ladin previously had lived in Sudan for several years but was forced to leave there by the Sudanese government, acting under U.S. pressure, in 1996. Because of a deteriorating security situation in war-torn Sudan, the U.S. Embassy staff from that country has been operating out of the Nairobi embassy since February 1996--providing a possible motive for Bin Ladin to strike in Kenya.
Islamic Jihad, a group banned in Egypt, also had threatened this month to retaliate against the United States for helping to extradite Islamic extremists from Albania to Cairo to stand trial. "We inform the Americans . . . of preparations for a response which we hope they read with care, because we will write it, with God's help, in a language they will understand," the group said.
Hezbollah, which was created in Lebanon with Iranian backing, has been fighting with growing intensity and sophistication against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. But it denies undertaking terrorist activities in other countries, and there is no public evidence linking it to the embassy bombings.
One of the most worrisome aspects of the bombing in Dar es Salaam is that, according to the State Department, the car containing the explosive apparently was parked inside the embassy compound--meaning that it had somehow passed by security guards. Security may have been lax because neither Kenya nor Tanzania had been considered a dangerous location. Thomas Pickering, the under secretary of state for political affairs, acknowledged after the bombings that neither embassy would meet current security guidelines for construction.
The Nairobi embassy, built in 1981, is at an intersection and has no security fence in front, along busy Moi Avenue, though it is protected by an 8-foot-high steel fence on the other three sides. The embassy in Dar es Salaam is a 44-year-old former private mansion leased by the United States since 1980. It was once the Israeli chancery but was expropriated by the government of Tanzania when it broke relations with Israel after the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In 1988, the State Department spent $775,000 to upgrade security, including installation of guardhouses at two entrances and construction of 9-foot-high masonry walls around the triangular compound.
The first step in the investigation will be to comb the wreckage for clues to the types of bombs and vehicles used. At the same time, U.S. agents will review National Security Agency telephone intercepts, monitor bank records, check visa and passport records, and work with local investigators. All the while, they will be hoping against a repeat of the investigation into the still unsolved June 1996 attack at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Probing that attack has been intensely frustrating for the FBI. The Saudi authorities controlling the case have said that the perpetrators were Saudi citizens, but they have denied the FBI critical access to suspects and evidence. And they have not answered questions about who may have bankrolled and supported the bombers. Many regard Iran as the most likely sponsor. But Saudi Arabia is trying to mend a rocky relationship with Iran and may be reluctant to publicize any findings. "Because Dhahran remains unsolved, it serves as an inspiration to other [terrorist] groups," suggests Larry Johnson, former deputy director of the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism. "The only good news is that . . . Tanzania and Kenya are likely to be much more cooperative than the Saudis."
advertisement
