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| Africa Horn |
| Hunt for Suspects In Embassy Bombings Elicits Anger in Kenya |
| 2008-08-16 |
| Almost 10 years to the day after the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, dozens of Kenyan anti-terrorism police busted their way into two homes in this sleepy resort town on the Indian Ocean. The early-morning raids on Aug. 3, including one based on information from FBI agents, produced a frenzy of front-page headlines and some boasting on the part of Kenyan authorities, who cast the operations as evidence of their hot pursuit of terrorist sympathizers. But the raids did not turn up the intended target: al-Qaeda operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, considered the chief organizer of the embassy bombings and a 2002 attack on a hotel near here. Mohammed is a man with more than 15 aliases who has been in Kenyan custody twice and targeted by U.S. airstrikes across the border in Somalia -- only to slip away again and again. Over the years, the pursuit of Fazul and two other suspects in the embassy bombings has enraged Kenyan Muslims, who have complained of being harassed by Kenya's U.S.-funded anti-terrorism unit. In Somalia, the American military has carried out six airstrikes. The only target confirmed dead in the strikes is Aden Hashi Ayro, the leader of a Somali insurgent faction described by U.S. officials as a top al-Qaeda commander who aided the embassy bombing suspects. Many civilians have also been killed in the strikes, drawing criticism that the tactic is inspiring radical Islamist insurgents in that fragile country. "The pursuit of these four suspects has had a huge impact in the Horn of Africa," said Ali Said, director of the Center for Peace and Democracy, based in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. "They always say, 'We almost found him!' But then they don't find him. After a decade, they are still after these suspects, still bombing the wrong places, killing cows and camels and herders and arresting the wrong people. . . . The whole community is paying the price." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Supposedly. But our dear reporter Stephanie does seem addicted to hyperbole. Frankly, I'm glad it's still being done ten years later. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-08-16 21:58 |
| #2 Does it still count as hot pursuit a decade later? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-16 18:09 |
| #1 Boo-freekin-hoo. Well then...if you want the Keystone cops routine to stop, then give up the rat-bastard terrorist. |
| Posted by: Jineper Grundy2363 2008-08-16 08:00 |