DATE=10/20/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=TERRORISM PLEA (L-only)

NUMBER=2-268223

BYLINE=BARBARA SCHOETZAU

DATELINE=NEW YORK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In Federal Court in New York, a former U-S Army sergeant pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring with terrorists in the 1998 bombings of two U-S embassies in Africa. Correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports from New York.

TEXT: Ali Mohamed admitted to collaborating with terrorists and having a close relationship with Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire who the U-S government says was the mastermind behind the bombings.

More than 220 people, including 12 Americans, died when the U-S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were blown up in August 1998.

Mohamed, a native of Egypt, also pleaded guilty to all other charges against him, including conspiring to kill American nationals and to destroy U-S property, in connection with his participation in a variety of terrorist acts against the United States.

Mohamed faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole.

Mohamed is one of 17 people who have been indicted in the bombings. The trial of five other defendants in custody is set to begin in January. Three other defendants are undergoing extradition proceedings in Great Britain, and eight more, including Osama bin Laden, remain fugitives. (Signed)

NEB/NYC/BJS/WTW