– CBS World News Roundup – August 7, 1998 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
News from East Africa today. Two bombings, five minutes apart, leveled American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Initial reports put the number of dead at around 80 but the number of injured at well over 1500. Eyewitness accounts told of streets all around the embassies littered with bodies and that the embassies themselves were no longer there. It was clear this was a coordinated series of terrorist bombings, and speculation put the mastermind at Saudi national Osama bin Ladin who was living in Afghanistan and routinely broadcasting messages to his followers to attack American targets around the world. One suspect was in custody.
The bombings are widely believed to have been revenge for U.S. involvement in the extradition, and alleged torture, of four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) who had been arrested in Albania in the two months prior to the attacks for a series of murders in Egypt. Between June and July, Ahmad Isma’il ‘Uthman Saleh, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Naggar, Shawqi Salama Mustafa Atiya and Mohamed Hassan Tita were all renditioned from Albania to Egypt, with the co-operation of the United States; the four men were accused of participating in the assassination of Rifaat el-Mahgoub, as well as a later plot against the Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo. The following month, a communique was issued warning the United States that a “response” was being prepared to “repay” them for their interference.
In other news – the Grand Jury investigating the affair between Monica Lewinsky and President Clinton had the day off after hearing nearly 7 hours of testimony from Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton was slated to give testimony a week from this day.
And a lead investigator quit the Boulder Colorado Police Department, charging the Prosecutor had bungled the JonBenet Ramsey murder case and calling the case and those involved a continuing travesty.
And while reports on the terrorist bombings in Africa continue, that’s a small slice of what happened, this August 7, 1998 as reported by the CBS World News Roundup.
