• The United States on their website said they are offering a reward of up to $10 million each for information on Sayf al-Adl and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, and a reward of up to $25 million for information on Ayman al-Zawahiri.
• Zawahiri was indicted in the United States for his role on August 7, 1998, US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Image: REUTERS
Kenya and the United States are looking for three terrorists who were behind the 1998 bomb blast at the US Embassy in Nairobi.
The United States on their website said they are offering a reward of up to $10 million each for information on Sayf al-Adl and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, and a reward of up to $25 million for information on Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Zawahiri
He is the current leader of the al-Qa’ida terrorist group and a former leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
He was indicted in the United States for his role on August 7, 1998, during the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
With Osama bin Laden and other senior members of al-Qa’ida, al-Zawahiri is believed to have also plotted attacks on the USS Cole in Yemen on October 12, 2000, which killed 17 US sailors and injured another 39.
While al-Zawahiri now leads a small but influential cadre of senior leaders widely called al-Qa‘ida Core, the group’s cohesiveness over the past few years has diminished.
"This is because of leadership losses from counterterrorism pressure in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the rise of other organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that serve as an alternative for some disaffected extremists," the rewards department said.
Sayf al-Adl
Al-Adl is an al-Qa’ida senior leader and a member of AQ’s leadership council, the “majlis al-shura.” Al-Adl also heads al-Qa’ida’s military committee.
Al-Adl was indicted and charged by a federal grand jury in November 1998 for his role on August 7, 1998, bombings of the US Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi Kenya. The attacks killed 224 civilians and wounded more than 5,000 others.
He was a lieutenant colonel in the Egyptian Special Forces until his arrest in 1987 with thousands of other anti-government militants following an assassination attempt on Egypt’s interior minister
In September 2015, al-Adl and four other senior al-Qa’ida leaders were released from Iranian custody in exchange for an Iranian diplomat kidnapped by al-Qa’ida in Yemen.
Al-Adl also was a senior lieutenant to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, founder of al-Qa’ida in Iraq which later became ISIS.
Abdullah
He was indicted and charged by a federal grand jury in November 1998 for his role on August 7, 1998, bombings of the US Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi Kenya.
Terrorists attacked the Embassy with car bombs that claimed the lives of 224 innocent civilians and wounded more than 4,500.
In Dar es Salaam, terrorists driving a truck loaded with explosives tried to ram the gate of the embassy, started shooting at the chancery, and then detonated their explosives.
The resulting blast killed 11 people and injured 85.
The bombings caused severe damage to both embassy buildings and destroyed nearby offices and businesses.
"If you have any information related to this attack, please confide in the DCI for action," DCI director George Kinoti said on Monday.
"Help DCI find these terrorists to justice. Call 0800722203 to anonymously report terrorist activity."
TRIED AND CONVICTED
The following individuals were tried and convicted.
Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a founding member of al-Qa’ida, was arrested in September 1998 in Germany and extradited.
He is serving a life sentence in federal prison for his connection to the bombings.
In October 2001, al-Qa’ida operatives Wadih El-Hage, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh were convicted for the planning and execution of the embassy bombings and sentenced to life in prison.
In January 2011, al-Qa’ida operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted and sentenced to life in a U.S. court for his role in the bombings.
In September 2014, Adel Abdel Bari, a close associate of al-Qa’ida leader Zawahiri, pled guilty to conspiring to kill U.S. nationals and received a 25-year sentence in federal court.
In May 2015, Khaled al-Fawwaz, deputy to Usama bin Laden, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal court for his connection to the attacks.
For 23 years now, Kenyans have remembered their loved ones who were killed on August 7, 1998.
Many are still leaving with the scars to date as others have never come to terms with the terror attack 23 years later.
After the attack, the Seventh Memorial Park was built, a green, unique and serene garden.
It was built as a place where many can visit in remembrance of those lost and injured and to learn more about what transpired that day.
Edited by D Tarus