Statement claims Al-Qaeda bombed hotel

A statement attributed to the Al-Qaeda network has claimed responsibility for last week's twin attacks on Israeli targets on the Kenyan coast, news agencies reported. The statement, posted on an Islamic website and signed by the "Political office of Qaeda al-Jihad" was being regarded as credible, Reuters quoted a US official as saying in Washington. "The fighters of Al-Qaeda return to the same place where the crusader-Jewish coalition was hit four years ago," the statement said. It was referring to the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, in which 224 people were killed. A previously unknown group - the Army of Palestine - last week also claimed to have carried out the attacks. Palestinian officials, however, have denied any involvement by Palestinian groups. The suicide bomb attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise hotel, 16 km north of the port city of Mombasa, last Thursday killed 16 people - 10 Kenyans, three Israelis, and the three bombers - and caused extensive damage to the hotel. A near simultaneous missile attack at Mombasa airport narrowly missed a Israeli operated charter plane bound for Tel Aviv. Two of the three suicide bombers in Thursday's attack were thought to be linked to four men convicted of the 1998 bombings, the 'East African' weekly reported on Monday. The US sentenced the four men to life imprisonment, accusing them of having links to the Al-Qaeda network. A Kenyan government statement issued last week said that following the 1998 attacks, security had been tightened throughout the East African country. However, the Kenyan authorities have been criticised in recent days for their failure to prevent the attacks, with local media claiming the security services were warned earlier in the year that an attack was being planned. The Kenyan police have denied receiving such intelligence. Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi is scheduled to meet US President George Bush in Washington on Thursday 5 December, and is expected to discuss measures to combat terrorism in the region. Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi is also expected to attend the meeting, according to the US government. "The President looks forward to discussing issues affecting common interests of the United States and the East Africa region, particularly our continued cooperation in the global war on terrorism", White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told journalists in Washington on Monday.