Kenya bombing kills 11 as jet escapes missiles

Suspected Islamic terrorists crashed a large car bomb into a resort hotel filled with Israelis in Kenya today, killing 11 tourists and staff.

At about the same time, two missiles were fired at, but missed, an Israeli plane that had just taken off from the same coastal resort.

John Sawe, the Kenyan ambassador to Israel, said he had “no doubt” Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorists were behind the double attack.

Eighty people were injured in the explosion at the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel, 12 miles north of Mombasa, said John Sawe, the Kenyan ambassador.

At least three Israelis were killed, including two young girls, along with at least seven Kenyans. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

The apparent suicide bombing happened at about 08:00am (5am Irish time), said Colonel Bonventur Wendo, director of Kenya’s National Disaster Centre. Police and intelligence agents were at the scene, he said.

Steven Odero, a waiter at the hotel, said a green four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed through a barrier outside the hotel before exploding.

Its passengers had been arguing with the hotel’s guards before breaking through the barrier, he said.

He added that at the same time, a small aircraft flew overhead and appeared to drop something near the hotel’s reception.

Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper said on its Website that the bodies of the attackers were burnt beyond recognition.

The bodies of five of their victims, one white and four Africans were strewn in the reception area, it said. Other bodies were littered across the lobby of the hotel which had collapsed and was reduced rubble, it said.

There were no injuries meanwhile on board the Israeli plane, which belonged to the Arkia charter company and was carrying about 260 passengers and 10 crew.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the apparent missile attack on the plane represented “a very dangerous escalation of terror”.

“It means that terror organsations and the regimes behind them are able to arm themselves with weapons which can cause mass casualties anywhere and everywhere,” he said.

“Today, they are firing the missiles at Israeli planes, tomorrow they will fire missiles at American planes, British planes, every country’s aircraft. Therefore, there can be no compromise with terror.”

Israel Radio said all El Al flights from foreign airports were suspended. Israel was sending a plane with doctors to Kenya to help treat and evacuate the wounded at the Paradise.

A hotel guest, Dr Nimrod Grissarov, had arrived early today with a group from the Israeli town of Beersheba, with children celebrating a Bat Mitzva.

“I can tell you personally I treated three victims whom I would classify as moderately wounded ... they had head injuries, a kidney injury,” he said.

Meanwhile, two missiles were launched at the Arkia aircraft as it had just taken off from Mombasa airport, said an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The pilot saw a flash of light on the left side of the plane, said an Arkia official, Shlomo Hanael.

The pilot initially prepared for an emergency landing in the capital Nairobi to check whether the plane was damaged, but after consultations with Israeli officials, it was decided to fly directly to Israel, Israel TV’s Channel Two said. Hanael said there was no damage to the plane.

The Israel Embassy in Nairobi was cordoned off today.

Kenya was the scene of a terrorist attack blamed on al-Qaida on August 7, 1998, when a car bomb blast outside the US embassy in Nairobi killed 219 people and wounded 5,000.

A nearly simultaneous attack on the US embassy in neighbouring Tanzania killed 12 people and injured more than 80.