Some 13 persons killed in explosion in Israeli hotel in Mombassa
Israel, Politics, 11/29/2002

The number of killings in the explosion which took place in the Kenyan city of Mombassa increased to 13 Israelis and wounding more than other 80 in the explosion which took place yesterday at "Paradise" hotel.

The Israeli foreign minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that information available to him indicate that casualties in the lines of the Israelis are serious, while the Israeli defense minister Shaoul Mofaz decided to send a military plane, carrying medical help to the wounded who were taken to the coast area near the hotel which was burnt ultimately.

A spokesman for the Israeli ministry of tourism said that an Israeli investor owns the said hotel, and all the clients inside it during the explosion were Israelis and were occupying its four floors.

In an interview with the Israeli radio yesterday, he said that the Israeli clients arrived in Mombassa on Wednesday evening, noting that he believes that the Israeli plane which transported them in a direct flight between Tel Aviv and Mombassa is the same plane which was exposed to fired missiles against it at Mombassa's airport yesterday morning.

To this effect, the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon assigned the Israeli security department ( the Mossad) to investigate the explosion which targeted the hotel. Sharon's advisor Zalman Shoufal said that the Mossad and the ministry of defense will make investigations concerning the attack and to decide how to react to it.

Later on, the Israeli authorities gave their instructions to halt all flights of the Israeli Airlines company al-Al in all parts of the world and to transfer the passengers to alternative airliners.

News reports said that unidentified persons yesterday morning fired one missile at "Paradise" hotel and this resulted in burning the hotel and the killing or wounding of many people.

In an urgent news item, the Israeli radio said that two other missiles were fired at an Israeli passenger plane for Arke' company of Boeing 757 type, carrying 261 passengers, most of them Israelis, adding that the plane continued its route to Israel after it was hit by the fragments of the two missiles.

The Kenyan authorities arrested two persons on charge of having connections to the explosion which targeted the hotel.

Kenya's minister of the interior said in a press statement that the two suspected persons were close to the area and that the Kenyan authorities are investigating them. The identity of the two detained persons was not disclosed.

The Kenyan police said that three persons detonated a booby trapped car near the hotel which was burnt totally, adding that the three men are suspected to be of a Middle East origin, adding that the explosion took place just five minutes after the attempt made against the Israeli plane.

The regional police commissioner in Mombassa said that the total number of killings in the explosion might increase to 16 and that attempts are made to remove the ruins from the site of the explosion.

Meantime, an Israeli eyewitness in Paradise hotel, where the explosion took place said that a booby trapped car went off in front of the hotel where most of the clients were wounded.

Meantime, news reports said that the targeted Israeli planes landed at Bin Gorion airport in Tel Aviv, six hours after the two missiles were fired against it.

On the other hand, an official at the Israeli embassy in Johannesburg announced that the Israeli embassy in South Africa was closed, claiming that this embassy received a threat.

The Israeli official who asked to be anonymous refused to give more details, saying "we have just received instructions to close the embassy, according to information concerning a threat Israel had got." On the other hand, the US President George Bush expressed his strong regret over the double- operation which targeted Israelis in Mombassa and asked the Kenyan and Israeli authorities if they need the help of the USA.

The spokesman for the White House said we express our strong regret over violence and we are ready to provide the help." In Berlin, the German foreign minister Yushka Fischer said that Mombassa's explosion aims at increasing tension in the Middle east. He said "we do condemn this bloody and violent aggression which was committed against tourists in Kenya."

Previous Stories:
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