![Widows and orphans of the 2002 Kikambala bombing hold a huge banner during a special prayers to mark the 8th anniversary since the attack of the former Mombasa Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kilifi district.](http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/2067806/highRes/619804/-/maxw/600/-/dvqjd6z/-/dncoast2811e.jpg)
Widows and orphans of the 2002 Kikambala bombing hold a huge banner
during a special prayers to mark the 8th anniversary since the attack of
the former Mombasa Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kilifi district.
Photo/FILE
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Sunday, November 10, 2013
Al-Qaeda suicide bombers attacked Paradise Hotel in Kikambala,
Mombasa County, killing 15 people and destroying the establishment.
The
terrorists arrived at the gate of the Israeli-owned hotel in a green
Pajero. In the vehicle were three men, who told the guards that they had
come to see someone in the hotel. They were advised to wait for
clearance.
Suddenly, one of the men jumped out, slipped
under the barrier, and ran towards the reception desk, detonating
explosives that were strapped to his body.
The other
two then drove past the barrier and crashed into the hotel’s reception
desk, detonating more explosives that were loaded in the car.
Of
the 15 people who were killed, 12 were Kenyans while the rest were
Israeli tourists. The Kenyans were members of a troupe performing a
welcome dance for the arriving guests.
Another 80 people were injured.
At
8.40am that day, other terrorists fired a missile at an Israeli Arkia
Airlines jet as it took off from Mombasa’s Moi International Airport.
They missed their target and none of the 250 passengers and 10-member
crew was harmed.
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE OF HOTEL'S GROUNDS
Investigations
by American, Israeli, and Kenyan intelligence service teams into the
hotel bombing revealed that preparations for the attack had started a
year earlier.
In November 2001, the terrorists first
met in Mogadishu, Somalia, to discuss a possible strike against Israeli
interests in Kenya.
Their leader was Mohammed Fazul,
Al-Qaeda’s senior representative in East Africa and one of the key
architects of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar
es Salaam.
By April 2002, the terrorists had singled
out the Israeli-owned aircraft and the Paradise Hotel as their targets.
The hotel catered to an exclusive Israeli clientele.
Over
the next five months, the terrorists conducted video surveillance of
the hotel’s grounds. They then made arrangements to smuggle two
shoulder-fired Soviet-made SA-7B SAMs into Kenya from Yemen.
The
terrorists assembled the bombs in a rented house in Tudor, Mombasa.
They packed the bombs into their SUV, which was bought on November 15,
2002.
Kenya eventually managed to shed the negative
publicity that the bombing earned the tourism industry. Australia,
Britain, Canada, and the US temporarily shut their embassies and issued
travel advisories against Kenya, warning their citizens of insecurity in
the country.
The United Kingdom suspended flights to Kenya for a month.
Kenya has been a target of terror attacks for many years, thanks to of its leaning towards the West.