Zawahir, brains behind 1998 Nairobi, Dar bomb attacks, killed in US drone strike
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri who was killed by a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul. His killing opens the way for a potentially troubled succession process.
On August 7, 1998, more than 240 people were killed in two nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions; one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the other outside the United States Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Three suspects – Ayman al-Zawahiri, Saif al-Adel and Osama bin Laden – were named as masterminds of the deadly attacks on the two East African capitals.
The three remained at large until Osama, the leader of al-Qaeda, a terrorism group formed in Pakistan, was killed in 2011. And on Saturday last week, Zawahiri was also killed in a US drone attack.
The death of Zawahiri, an Egyptian who was killed as he sheltered in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, will likely bring back memories of the ordeal of nearly two and a half decades ago that left many Kenyan and Tanzanian families scarred for life.
To date, the whereabouts of Al- Adel remain unknown, with Osama and Zawahiri having been killed in attacks for which the US claimed responsibility.
Zawahiri met his death while on a break from the warfield, during which he sought to reunite with his family, the US said moments after the incident.
“I authorised a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all,” US President Joe Biden said in a speech from the White House.
A senior administration official told US media that the terror suspect was killed in what was described as “a precise tailored airstrike” using two Hellfire missiles.
President Biden further revealed that the drone strike was conducted following a series of meetings that took weeks between his Cabinet and advisers. At the time of the drone strike, there were reportedly no American personnel in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Zawahiri, who died at 71, had been picked as the leader of al-Qaeda following Osama’s death in 2011. Osama was killed in a fortified complex of buildings that were probably built as his hideout in Pakistan.
The duo were felled before they could be arraigned to answer to several criminal and terror-related charges in various parts of the world.
FBI on Zawahiri
Immediately after the twin attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, the Federal Bureau of Investigations launched investigations into the matter and it emerged that Zawahiri was the key strategist and mastermind and that Osama was among those who financed the operation.
A son of a pharmacology professor, Zawahiri was known to be a good planner but Laden, the son of Mohammed bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire who largely invested in the construction industry, was known to have lots of money and charisma.
Dubbed the KENBOM and TANBOM by the FBI, the investigation represented the largest deployment in the bureau’s history at the time.
“They led to ramped-up anti-terror efforts by the United States and by the FBI, including an expanded bureau overseas presence that can quickly respond to acts of terrorism that involve Americans,” FBI said in a statement after it ended investigations into the matter.
A total of 20 members of the group were arrested and convicted following the KENBOM and TANBOM investigations. Seven of them are prisoners for life.
The name of the grey-bearded and white-turbaned Zawahiri came up on several occasions, especially after two al-Qaeda members who participated in the strike – identified as Mohammed Sadeeq Odeh and Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-Olohali – were arrested in Nairobi.
FBI said the two, who were convicted for their roles in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison in October 2011, were nabbed on August 27, 1998 and extradited to the US.
In September 1998, another suspect, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, was arrested in Germany and is currently serving a life sentence for stabbing a corrections officer in the eye while still in prison. He had been sentenced for his role in the embassy attacks.
During the investigations, another suspect, who is also serving a life imprisonment, was arrested in September 1998 in Texas, USA, after it emerged that he had given false statements to the FBI.
Al-Qaeda’s military commander, Muhammad Atef, who was also named in the investigations, was killed in a US airstrike on November 16, 2001.
While Osama and Zawahiri are now out of the way, Saif Al- Adel remains at large.
According to the US, he is a former Egyptian colonel, explosives expert and high-ranking member of al-Qaeda.
Al-Adel is believed to be the most senior member of al-Qaeda. In the 90s, he established an al-Qaeda training facility at Ras Kamboni in Somalia, near the Kenyan border.
Zawahiri’s prominence
He was arrested in Egypt, his home country, in 1981, after he was linked to the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in the same year.
When he appeared in court, he made it clear that more such murders would follow. He was jailed for three years for being in possession of firearms and when he was released, he left Egypt for Pakistan, where he reportedly linked up with Osama.
According to the FBI, Zawahiri also served as Osama’s personal physician, in a rapprochement that saw them stay in touch until 2011, when Bin Laden was gunned down.
