Israel begins evacuating injured tourists

An Israeli army team today began evacuating tourists injured in a deadly suicide bombing at a beach resort in Kenya as investigators sought to determine who was behind twin attacks.

The first 80 tourists to be flown back to Israel, including 10 slightly injured in the blast that killed at least 15 people, have arrived back in Israel, with many questioning where they would be able to feel safe again.

“The situation is a disaster. An Israeli does not know where to go,” said Yossi Msika as he walked toward the aircraft – the Israeli Prime Minister’s official jet – clutching two carved wooden giraffes.

The Israeli army sent a team of 150 doctors, psychologists, and soldiers to Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast after nine Kenyans, three Israelis and three suicide bombers were killed in yesterday morning’s attack on the Paradise Hotel, 15 miles north of the port of Mombasa.

About five minutes before the hotel blast, two missiles streaked past a Boeing 757 charter aircraft owned by Arkia Airlines as it left the Mombasa airport bound for Tel Aviv, Israel. Witnesses said the missiles were fired from an all-terrain vehicle around one mile from the airport, said police spokesman Jesse Mituki.

The plane with 261 passengers and 10 crew members landed safely in Tel Aviv with no casualties.

Brigadier General Eitan Dangot, head of the evacuation team that arrived early today, said 140 Israelis were being evacuated, including 17 wounded in the explosion, two of whom were in a critical condition.

Among those being evacuated were two seriously injured Kenyans who were being taken to Israel for treatment at the request of the Kenyan government, Israeli officials said.

In a statement to news organisations in Beirut, Lebanon, an unknown organisation calling itself the “Government of Universal Palestine in Exile, The Army of Palestine” claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were timed “to strike at Israeli interests” on the eve of the anniversary of the 1947 decision by the UN to partition Palestine and allow creation of a Jewish state.

But Israeli government adviser Zalman Shoval said al-Qaida’s past activities in East Africa and the nature of the attacks pointed to that group which carried out almost simultaneous bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 that killed 231 people and injured about 5,000.

Kenyan police said they had detained two suspects for questioning.

“We can’t rule out the group that struck at us in 1998,” Kenyan Vice President Musalia Mudavadi said.

The hotel attack was a grim reminder of the bombing last month of a disco on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, in which more than 190 people, including around 30 Britons, were killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also put the Mossad spy agency in charge of investigating the twin attacks.

As evening fell on the wreckage of the bombed hotel yesterday, a group of Israelis directed Kenyan Red Cross workers who were laying out body bags for the dead.

“We’re not sure who these people are ... There are just parts in that one,” said Yakob Maimon, one of the Israelis, pointing to a small bag at the far end of row.

A few feet away, an American investigator conferred with Kenyan colleagues. Neither he, nor Kenyan officials at the scene, would comment on the investigation.

By today the site had been cordoned off, and more Israeli and US security officials were combing the area for clues.

The deadly attack on the 160-bed Paradise Hotel occurred as new guests were checking in and others were eating breakfast.

Witnesses said a sports utility vehicle smashed through the main gate to the hotel compound and raced down a hill, stopping in front of the lobby.

Some of the witnesses said there were three men who looked like Arabs in the car. One of them ran into the lobby and blew himself up, while the others remained in the vehicle as it exploded.

The huge blasts shattered windows and masonry along the front of the hotel, incinerated vehicles parked nearby and set fire to the thatch roofs of the outbuildings, reducing their wooden frames to smoldering hulks. Stone walls were all that remained of the lobby.

Two of the dead Israelis were sisters, Gilad Millo, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said in Mombasa.

Police said the missiles were fired from a white all-terrain vehicle in which witnesses said they saw three or four Arab-looking men. Investigators found two missile casings near the airport.