OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Wednesday 10.30AM.
INVESTIGATORS from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday raided a downtown Nairobi hotel, where the massive bomb that blew up the American embassy two weeks ago is believed to have been assembled.
The Daily Nation reports that Mohammed Saddiq Howaida (also known as Mohammed Saddiq Odeh), the Palestinian suspect arrested in Pakistan last week, led the investigators to the Hill Top Hotel, where the 800kg bomb was allegedly assembled over a period of several days in rooms 102 and 107 of the hotel, the paper said, citing unidentified sources.
The newspaper said the raid was carried out on Tuesday morning by 15 FBI agents and six Kenyan detectives wearing bulletproof vests, who carried away several boxes. An employee at the hotel also told reporters that hotel manager James Nganga was arrested by the investigators, who took away the hotel register.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani newspaper reports on Wednesday that the suspect held in Nairobi gave a detailed account of worldwide anti-American operations by a secretive Muslim guerrilla group based in Afghanistan. The News said Howaida, during a week of questioning by Pakistani intelligence officials before he was handed over to Kenya last Friday, revealed that he is a member of a secretive guerrilla group led by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who is in hiding in Afghanistan.
Kenyan police and US authorities declined to comment on the latest reported developments. If true, the two reports signify a major breakthrough in the investigation into the August 7 bombings that killed 257 people at US embassies in Nairobi and in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam.