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1998 U.s. Embassy BombingsOn August 7, 1998, the United States embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, were severely damaged in nearly simultaneous truck bomb attacks. The bombings killed 213 people in Nairobi and a dozen in Dar es Salaam. An estimated 4000 were injured in the Kenyan capital and 85 in Dar es Salaam. Almost all of the victims were African civilians, as well as several US diplomats. The attacks were linked to local members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, headed by Osama bin Laden. It was this terrorist incident that first brought bin Laden and al Qaeda to international notoriety, and led to the FBI's placing him on the agency's Ten Most Wanted List. While the attacks were aimed at American embassies, the vast majority of the victims were Africans: 32 Kenyans and twelve Americans were killed (in Nairobi) and eight Tanzanian Embassy employees were killed. The remainder of the dead were visitors, passers-by, or people in neighboring buildings: the Nairobi embassy lay in a busy downtown location, while the embassy in Dar es Salaam was further from the city center. In response to these bombings, on August 20 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan (see Operation Infinite Reach). Investigations into the embassy bombings were conducted by the FBI and Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities. A list of suspects was drawn up and several men were charged with complicity in the bombings. In an event that angered many involved in the investigation, a court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declared on November 20 1998 that Osama bin Laden was "a man without a sin" in regard to the bombing. Conspirators still at large Conspirators in custody Conspirators that are believed to be dead See also External links US embassy
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