Editing 2002 Mombasa attacks (section)

==Perpetrators==
Sheikh [[Omar Bakri Mohammed]], leader of the London-based Islamic organisation [[Al Muhajiroun]], said that warnings had appeared on the Internet. "Militant groups who sympathise with Al-Qaeda warned one week ago that there would be an attack on Kenya and they mentioned Israelis," he said.<ref>{{cite news|title=Warnings were on Internet chat rooms, says cleric|url=http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?id=14370|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304131024/https://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?id=14370|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 March 2023|date=28 November 2002|agency=[[Kenya Broadcasting Corporation]]|access-date=29 July 2010 }}</ref> Initially, Israeli government spokesmen denied that such a warning had been received. But four days after the blast, Brigadier-General [[Yossi Kuperwasser]] admitted that Israeli military intelligence were aware of a threat in Kenya, but that it was not specific enough. Former [[Mossad]] head [[Danny Yatom]] took a similar line, saying that Israel got so many terror warnings they were not taken seriously.<ref name="UK condemns Kenya bomb attack"/>

In [[Lebanon]], a previously unknown group called the Army of Palestine has said it carried out the attacks and said it wanted the world to hear the "voice of the refugees" on the 55th anniversary of the partition of Palestine.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2523737.stm Al-Qaeda suspected in Kenya attacks]. [[BBC News]]. 28 November 2002.</ref>

On 20 December 2006, [[Salad Ali Jelle]], Defence Minister of [[Somalia]]'s [[Transitional Federal Government]], said that one of the suspects, [[Abu Taha al-Sudan|Abu Talha al-Sudani]], was an Islamic Courts Union leader fighting against the Transitional Federal Government in the 2006 [[Battle of Baidoa]].<ref name=CLASHES-BROADEN-BETWEEN-SOMALI-ISLAMIST-AND-GOVERNMENT-TROOPS>{{cite news|url=http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=iol1166611493261C422|title=Clashes broaden between Somali Islamist and government troops|date=20 December 2006|publisher=[[Independent Online (South Africa)]]| access-date= 2 November 2007 <!--DASHBot-->}}</ref> On 14 September 2009, American troops killed Kenya-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan after a missile struck his car in the Barawe District, 250 kilometers south of Somalia's capital Mogadishu. Nabhan is believed to have bought the truck used in the 2002 bombing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5472307|title=Commandos Kill Suspect in 2002 Mombasa Hotel Blast|date=15 September 2009|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]| access-date= 2 March 2018}}</ref>

[[Fazul Abdullah Mohammed]] was a foreign leader of the jihadist fundamentalist group, [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]], which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. Mohammed was appointed leader of al-Qaeda operations in [[East Africa]]. He was a participating member of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi and was one of the masterminds behind the coordination of the attack in Mombasa. He saw the attack as a failure because of the Strela 2 missiles missing the plane during takeoff.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.umes.edu/cms300uploadedFiles/AJCJS/Volume_7_Issue_1_and_2/VOL7.1%20ARONSON%20FINAL.pdf|access-date=2021-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104212625/http://www.umes.edu/cms300uploadedFiles/AJCJS/Volume_7_Issue_1_and_2/VOL7.1%20ARONSON%20FINAL.pdf|archive-date=4 January 2014|title=Kenya and the Global War on Terror:Neglecting History and Geopolitics in Approaches to Counterterrorism | journal=African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies | volume=7 | issue=1&2 | first=Samuel L. | last=Aronson | date=November 2013}}</ref>

[[Abdulmalik Mohammed|Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu]] confessed in 2007 to assisting in the car bombings that took place at The Paradise Hotel. He was arrested by Kenyan authorities and was imprisoned by the U.S. in [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo Bay]] without any formal charges against him. There have been four other suspected attackers affiliated with the al-Qaeda cell in Kenya, but the Kenyan prosecutors have had trouble establishing guilt with certainty. The four Kenyan nationals have been acquitted for lack of evidence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-wants-israel-to-try-gitmo-prisoner-for-2002-kenya-bombing-report/|title=US wants Israel to try Gitmo prisoner for 2002 Kenya bombing — report|last=staff|first=T. O. I.|website=timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-15}}</ref>

There also has been speculation of involvement by Somali terrorist organization known as, [[Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya|Al Ittihad al Islamiya]] (AIAI). AIAI has supposed ties with al-Qaeda. They had hoped that by sending a message to the Israelis through this attack, they would grow closer to achieving their goal of establishing a Somali Islamic state.<ref>"The North and East African Clusters." ''Beyond Al-Qaeda: Part 1, The Global Jihadist Movement'', by Angel Rabasa et al., RAND Corporation, 2006, pp. 119–134. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg429af.17.</ref>

However, a former Israeli Intelligence official accused [[Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah]], known as Abu Mohammed al-Masri, of ordering the Mombasa attacks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/al-masri-abdullah-qaeda-dead.html|title=Al Qaeda's No. 2, Accused in U.S. Embassy Attacks, Is Secretly Killed in Iran|first1=Adam|last1=Goldman|first2=Eric|last2=Schmitt|first3=Farnaz|last3=Fassihi|first4=Ronen|last4=Bergman|work=The New York Times |date=14 November 2020|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

=== Motivation ===
It is believed that the terrorist cell al-Qaeda sought out to severely diminish Israeli activities on the African continent. The two simultaneous attacks had a direct impact on the Israeli tourism industry.<ref name=":0">Kuto, Benjamin K.; Groves, James L. (2004). "The Effect of Terrorism: Evaluating Kenya's Tourism Crisis". ''e-Review of Tourism Research''. '''2''': 2–4.</ref> The Paradise Hotel was an Israeli-owned beachfront property that many Israeli vacationers frequented. The Al-Shabaab militant group is concentrated in Somalia, but because of weak border security, its members often enter Kenya. Kenya has a minority [[Muslims|Muslim]] population that has historically been alienated, and with a growing dissent for Western activities regarding Kenyan borders, it has enabled a growing number of [[Jihadism|jihadist]] Muslims into Nairobi. The Muslim community in Kenya had lost political and economic representation leading up to the attacks, which led them to focus their loyalty on Islam and the Middle East, not Kenya. This enabled the jihadist movement to acquire a strong grip within Kenya, as Kenyan nationals assisted in the attacks on the Paradise Hotel and on the Boeing 757.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Africa in world politics: reforming political order|last1=Harbeson|first1=John W|last2=Rothchild|first2=Donald S|date=2009|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=978-0-8133-4364-8|location=Boulder, CO|language=en|oclc=192042020}}</ref>