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Kenya Holds 12 Over Attacks,
Israel Vows Vengeance
Reuters By David Mageria MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police said they were holding a dozen
people on Friday over the attacks on Israelis which killed 15 people, after
Israel vowed to hunt down all those behind the Mombasa bloodbath. A man and woman detained in connection with Thursday's bomb and missile
attacks had U.S. passports and said they were from Florida, the manager of a
hotel where they stayed told Reuters. Police said they were hunting others of
Arab appearance. Suicide bombers drove a jeep into the lobby of the Israeli-owned Mombasa
Paradise hotel and blew it up, killing 15 people, minutes after missiles were
fired at a plane full of Israeli tourists taking off nearby early on
Thursday. By Friday, 12 people had been detained. A police spokesman said the first
three seized were "all foreigners." "Immediately after the incident we detained two for interrogation and I feel
they could give us useful information," Police Commissioner Philemon Abong'o
told a news conference. "By this morning we had also detained a further 10 people who are under our
custody because we feel that some of them have information which could be useful
to us." He declined to give the nationalities of those held. Ben Wafula, general manager of Mombasa's Le Soleil Beach Club, said of the
first two detained: "They had American passports and they said they were from
Florida." He said the man and the woman, who appeared in their 20s, checked into his
hotel on November 26 and had tried to check out on Thursday morning, about two
hours after the suicide bombing of the Paradise Hotel some three miles away. Wafula said the pair were held after his staff made a routine call to police,
who had asked all hotels in the area to notify them of any people checking out
following the blast. SWIFT RESPONSE Israel flew home wounded survivors and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed a
swift response. Israeli security experts rushed to Mombasa to examine the
charred wreckage of the Paradise. "Our long arm will catch the attackers and those who dispatch them," Sharon
said on Thursday after his Likud party re-elected him as its leader ahead of
Israel's January 28 general election. Israeli and Kenyan officials have been quick to blame Osama bin Laden's al
Qaeda network for the attack on the Paradise, which killed three Israelis, nine
Kenyans and the three bombers. More than a dozen Israelis and more than 60
others were injured. But the White House said it was too soon to blame the group it accuses of
masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States last year. In a fax sent to Reuters, the previously unheard-of "Army of Palestine"
claimed responsibility. There was no confirmation. Sharon, who also used his victory speech to respond to the killing of six
people in an attack in northern Israel, echoed the pledge Israel made after the
killing of 11 of its athletes taken hostage by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972
Munich Olympics. Israel eventually carried out its threat, using its Mossad spy agency to
track down and kill those it held responsible for the attack in Germany. "Israel will hunt down those who spilled the blood of its citizens. No one
will emerge unscathed," the right-wing prime minister and former general said in
a televised address. The United States blamed al Qaeda for 1998 truck bombings of U.S. embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania. Those attacks killed 224 people, most of them
Africans. Australia, many of whose citizens died in last month's Bali bombing in which
al Qaeda was also implicated, issued a warning on November 12 about the risk of
terrorist attacks in Kenya, particularly Mombasa. CHILDREN AND DANCERS KILLED On Friday, more than a dozen Israelis wounded in the hotel bombing arrived
home on an Israeli air force plane, weeping in emotional reunions with relatives
on the runway. The air force Boeing 747 also brought back the bodies of three Israelis --
two brothers aged 13 and 15, and a 61-year-old man -- killed in the attack.
Among the other victims were Kenyan dancers who welcomed tourists in the hotel
lobby. Minutes before the suicide bombers struck at the hotel, missiles narrowly
missed an Israeli airliner taking off nearby with 261 people on board. It
continued safely to Tel Aviv escorted by Israeli military jets. Police said the missiles were fired from a white Pajero jeep, possibly from
shoulder-held launchers. "The search for the white Pajero and three occupants of
Arab origin is on," police commissioner Philemon Abong'o told reporters. The hotel attackers were also described as of Arab appearance and driving a
four-wheel-drive Pajero. The Mulindwas
communication group
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