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American Morning
No Decision on Evidence from Kenyan Attacks
Aired December 03, 2002 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move on to more new developments linking al Qaeda to last week's attacks in Kenya. The claim of responsibility and new evidence are strengthening White House suspicions that the terror network is to blame for those attacks.
Our Ben Wedeman is in Mombasa, Kenya. He joins us live with the very latest on the investigation -- Ben, hello.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn, yes. It does look, according to U.S. officials, increasingly like it was al Qaeda that was behind the twin attacks last Thursday in Mombasa, Kenya. Now, of course, there is the one case of this statement posted on a Web site -- Web sites, actually, which in the past have posted statements from al Qaeda.
That claiming responsibility for the attack on the Paradise Hotel and the near miss on an Israeli passenger jet at about the same time. That statement coming from what is being described as the political office of the Qaeda organization, saying that the fighters of al Qaeda have returned to strike where the Crusader-Jewish Coalition was hit before, and that's a reference to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Another indication that al Qaeda may have been involved is the fact that the serial numbers found on the launchers that were used to fire those missiles on the Israeli passenger jet last Thursday are very close to the serial number found on a launcher that was used to fire at U.S. Air Force jets outside the Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia last May.
Now increasingly, U.S. and American intelligence officials are looking at the possible involvement of one Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, he is a Kenyan national born in the Comoros islands. He's described as the ground coordinator for those 1998 embassy attacks. He's described as an explosives expert, somebody who has, in the past, been linked very closely to al Qaeda.
KAGAN: Ben, any decision on the -- I don't know if it was a dispute or the discussion about where the evidence should go, if the Kenyans are going to keep it, or if it's going to go back to Israel?
WEDEMAN: No decision yet, Daryn. They are still -- the Kenyan authorities are still considering this Israeli request. This refers to several critical pieces of evidence that have been found here, including the bottoms of two gas welding cylinders, the charred remains of an AK-47 assault rifle and those launchers I referred to before. The Israelis want to bring those back to Israel for detailed forensic examination, but no decision yet from the Kenyan authorities about handing those over to Israel -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Ben Wedeman in Mombasa, Kenya. Thank you, Ben.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 3, 2002 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we move on to more new developments linking al Qaeda to last week's attacks in Kenya. The claim of responsibility and new evidence are strengthening White House suspicions that the terror network is to blame for those attacks.
Our Ben Wedeman is in Mombasa, Kenya. He joins us live with the very latest on the investigation -- Ben, hello.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn, yes. It does look, according to U.S. officials, increasingly like it was al Qaeda that was behind the twin attacks last Thursday in Mombasa, Kenya. Now, of course, there is the one case of this statement posted on a Web site -- Web sites, actually, which in the past have posted statements from al Qaeda.
That claiming responsibility for the attack on the Paradise Hotel and the near miss on an Israeli passenger jet at about the same time. That statement coming from what is being described as the political office of the Qaeda organization, saying that the fighters of al Qaeda have returned to strike where the Crusader-Jewish Coalition was hit before, and that's a reference to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Another indication that al Qaeda may have been involved is the fact that the serial numbers found on the launchers that were used to fire those missiles on the Israeli passenger jet last Thursday are very close to the serial number found on a launcher that was used to fire at U.S. Air Force jets outside the Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia last May.
Now increasingly, U.S. and American intelligence officials are looking at the possible involvement of one Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, he is a Kenyan national born in the Comoros islands. He's described as the ground coordinator for those 1998 embassy attacks. He's described as an explosives expert, somebody who has, in the past, been linked very closely to al Qaeda.
KAGAN: Ben, any decision on the -- I don't know if it was a dispute or the discussion about where the evidence should go, if the Kenyans are going to keep it, or if it's going to go back to Israel?
WEDEMAN: No decision yet, Daryn. They are still -- the Kenyan authorities are still considering this Israeli request. This refers to several critical pieces of evidence that have been found here, including the bottoms of two gas welding cylinders, the charred remains of an AK-47 assault rifle and those launchers I referred to before. The Israelis want to bring those back to Israel for detailed forensic examination, but no decision yet from the Kenyan authorities about handing those over to Israel -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Ben Wedeman in Mombasa, Kenya. Thank you, Ben.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
