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2nd bombing suspect arrives in U.S. from Kenya
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| Odeh | |
Web posted at: 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Amid tight security, a second suspect in the deadly bombing of the United States embassy in Kenya was in federal court on Friday to be charged with murder.
Mohammed Saddiq Odeh arrived in New York on Thursday, after being held by Kenyan authorities for about two weeks.
The 34-year-old Palestinian engineer was being charged with 12 counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The murder counts represent the 12 U.S. citizens killed in the embassy bombing in Nairobi.
U.S. officials on Thursday filed the same 14 charges against Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, a Yemeni national who arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday.
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| Al-'Owhali | |
Both Saddiq Odeh and Al-'Owhali have ties to exiled Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, who Washington says instigated the August 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Saddiq Odeh was detained by Pakistani officials at the airport in Karachi the day of the bombings. Pakistani officials say he has confessed to the Kenya bombing.
They returned Saddiq Odeh to Kenya on August 14. After three days of resistance, he began to cooperate with FBI and Kenyan investigators, sources said.
He has told investigators that he provided technical and logistical support to the bombers, sources said.
Although the United States and Kenya have an extradition agreement, no formal extradition hearings were held for either suspect before they were flown out of Kenya.
First suspect appeared in court Thursday
Al-'Owhali, who in Kenya used the name Khalid Salim, will be tried in the United States. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The suspect arrived in the United States late Wednesday from Nairobi, and made his first federal court appearance in New York on Thursday, officials said. He has not been arraigned.
During a news conference on Thursday to announce the charges filed against Al- 'Owhali, FBI Director Louis Freeh told reporters that while it is significant that two suspects are in custody, a far-reaching investigation continues.
Freeh said he could not say whether more people will be charged in the August 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in the capitals of Kenya and Tanzania. Freeh also said he could not estimate the total number of conspirators involved in the bombings.
The embassy bombings left 258 people dead and injured more than 5,000 others in the two capitals.
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said the massacre prompted the United States to launch its largest overseas investigation in history and that the investigation would continue.
"We're going to pursue every last murderer until justice has been done," Reno
said. (
162 K/ 14 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)
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| Osama bin Laden is suspected of instigating the bombing attacks on Kenya and Tanzania | |
A martyr's mission
According to the federal criminal complaint unsealed in New York on Thursday, Al- 'Owhali's role in the bombing plot began in March, and that on July 31, he traveled to Nairobi from Lahore, Pakistan.
Three days before the bombing, Al-'Owhali and other suspects surveyed the embassy in Nairobi, the complaint says.
On the morning of the bombing, Al-'Owhali "traveled with a co-conspirator in a vehicle with an improvised explosive device from a location in Nairobi," it says. Upon arrival at the embassy, he threw a grenade at a security guard blocking the entrance to the embassy parking lot, the document alleges.
The defendant told investigators the attack was supposed to be a "martyr mission," and that he did not expect to survive.
Ditching evidence at the hospital
But Al-'Owhali did survive, suffering injuries to his face, hand and back from the blast, Freeh said. He was taken to a Nairobi hospital for treatment of his injuries, where he tried to discard keys to the alleged bomb vehicle and three bullets, Freeh said.
He was later detained by Kenyan authorities and first interrogated two days after the bombing, the complaint said.
The complaint further stated that Al-'Owhali told investigators he was trained in explosives, hijacking and kidnapping at a number of camps in Afghanistan. The camps were operated by bin Laden, the complaint stated.
He also told investigators that he attended conferences and meetings on terrorism with bin Laden.
Neither suspect was extradited
The second suspect, Saddiq Odeh, also has ties to bin Laden. He was detained by Pakistani officials at the airport in Karachi the day of the bombing.
Pakistani officials say he has confessed to the bombing.
They returned Saddiq Odeh to Kenya on August 14. After three days of resistance, he began to cooperate with FBI and Kenyan investigators, sources said.
He has told investigators that he provided technical and logistical support to the bombers, sources said.
Although the United States and Kenya have an extradition agreement, no formal extradition hearings were held for either suspect before they were flown out of Kenya.
Reuters contributed to this report.
