1998 United States embassy bombing/This Day in History

This Day In History Aug. 7 1998

In the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings (August 7, 1998), hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks, linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to American attention for the first time, and resulted in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation placing bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list.

Along with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the Embassy Bombing is one of the major anti-American terrorist attacks that preceded the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Motivation and preparation

The bombings are widely believed to have been revenge for American involvement in the extradition, and alleged torture, of four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ} who had been arrested in Albania in the two months prior to the explosions and extradited to Egypt.[1] On June 28, Ahmed Ibrahim Assyed al-Najr, believed to be the militant group’s commander in Albania, was arrested along with compatriot Majed Mustapha. With the help of the CIA, they were extradited to Egypt. In July, Mohammad Hassan, leader of the Foundation for Rebirth of Islamic Heritage, was arrested in Tirana and similarly extradited to Egypt. The following month, a communique was issued warning the United States that a “response” was being prepared to repay them for their interference.

The bombings were scheduled for August 7, the eighth anniversary of the arrival of American troops in Saudi Arabia, ostensibly a deliberate choice by Osama bin Laden.

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