1998 United States embassy bombings
| 1998 United States embassy bombings | |
|---|---|
U.S. embassy in Nairobi after the explosion, with the collapsed Ufundi Building. | |
| Location | 01°17′21″S 36°49′36″E / 1.28917°S 36.82667°E and 06°47′21″S 39°16′46″E / 6.78917°S 39.27944°E Nairobi, Kenya Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| Date | August 7, 1998 10:30 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. EAT (UTC+3) |
| Target | United States embassies |
Attack type | Truck bombs |
| Weapons | TNT, ammonium nitrate, pistol, stun grenade |
| Deaths | 224 |
| Injured | 4,000+ |
| Perpetrators | Al-Qaeda Egyptian Islamic Jihad |
| Assailants | Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali Jihad Mohammed Ali Hamden Khalif Allah Awad |
| Motive | Islamist extremism, Anti-Americanism |
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 220 people were killed in two nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African capital cities, one at the United States embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the other at the United States embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah were deemed responsible with planning and orchestrating the bombings. In retaliation for the bombings, U.S. president Bill Clinton ordered Operation Infinite Reach on August 20, 1998.