Today in History: U.S. embassies in East Africa bombed (Watch pics)

New Delhi: On August 7, 1998--the eighth anniversary of the deployment of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia--two U.S. embassies in East Africa were bombed almost simultaneously by Al Qaeda. A massive truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. It was around 10.30 am that a truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of TNT forced its way to the back entrance of the embassy and was detonated, shattering the embassy, demolishing the nearby Ufundi Coop House, and gutting the 17-story Cooperative Bank. Minutes later, another truck bomb detonated outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, the capital of neighboring Tanzania. The dual terrorist attacks caused devastation with 224 people killed, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 wounded. American intelligence officers were aware that Osama bin Laden's operatives were active in East Africa but were unable to break up the terrorist cell before the embassies were attacked. They had even heard of a possible plot to bomb the U.S. embassy in Nairobi but failed to recommend an increase in security before the attack. The United States accused Osama bin Laden as the the mastermind of the bombings. Within days of the August 7 bombings, two bin Laden associates were arrested and charged with the attacks.On August 20, President Bill Clinton ordered Cruise missiles launched against bin Laden's terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and against a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, where bin Laden allegedly made or distributed chemical weapons.US government issued a lengthy indictment of Osama bin Laden and many of his associates in the late fall of 1998.In February 2001, four of the suspects went on trial in New York on 302 criminal counts stemming from the embassy attacks.On May 29, all four were convicted on all counts. Watch the devastation by bombings in pics: 1.U.S Embassy in Nairobi,after bombing. 2.Collapsed US Embassy building in Nairobi. 3.Aftermath at the US embassy in Nairobi. 4.Wreckage from the Nairobi bombing. 5.US embassy in Nairobi after bombing. 6.Rescuers dig through night for bomb survivors. 7.Sense of order returns to scene of Kenya bomb blast. 8.Rescue operation after the bombing. 9.Pictures of the bombing accused. 10.US Embassy bombing memorial in Nairobi.