10 August 1998

US, KENYA AND TANZANIA TO COOPERATE ON FINDING EMBASSY BOMBERS

(FBI leading US investigation of terrorist blasts) (410)

By Jane A. Morse

USIA Diplomatic Correspondent



Washington -- US law enforcement experts expect to cooperate with
Kenyan and Tanzanian law enforcement authorities in efforts to find
the perpetrators of the August 7 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi
and Dar es Salaam, according to Patrick Kennedy, Assistant Secretary
of State for Administration.


At a press briefing August 10, Kennedy pointed out that the bombings
are crimes in all three countries. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) will lead efforts for the US side, he said.


US officials have been unable to confirm reports that suspects in the
bombings have been detained or arrested, Deputy State Department
Spokesman James Foley told reporters.


The State Department officials defended the ongoing program to upgrade
security at US government diplomatic facilities around the world.
Since the 1985 Inman Report made recommendations on how to enhance
security at US embassies, some 27 new US embassy buildings have been
constructed to these standards and many more older buildings have been
rehabilitated, Kennedy said.


(The Inman Report was produced by Bobby Ray Inman, a retired admiral
and former top intelligence official who led a panel of experts for
the State Department during the Reagan administration to investigate
security standards in the wake of the 1984 terrorist attack on the US
Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.)


Both the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam embassies were constructed in the
early 1980s, Kennedy said, and have had upgrades over the years to
improve security. He said that the buildings were not considered "soft
targets" attractive to terrorists.


Foley said the casualty figures for Nairobi as of early August 10
were:


--  12 official US government personnel confirmed dead;

--  32 Foreign Service Nationals confirmed dead;

-- 10 official US government personnel injured and hospitalized in
Germany;
--   3 injured Americans sent to South African medical facilities;

--  20 injured Kenyans hospitalized locally,

-- 5 injured Kenyans sent to medical facilities in Germany, with
another 7 scheduled to follow.


In Dar es Salaam, there were no American deaths, but one US embassy
employee was injured and sent to London for medical treatment. Eight
Foreign Service Nationals and locally contracted employees were killed
and another 76 injured, Foley said.


Some 200 US medical workers are now at the bombing sites aiding the
injured, with another 200 investigators searching for clues that might
lead to perpetrators, State Department officials told reporters after
the briefing.

---