In the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings, hundreds of people were killed in truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the East African capital cities of Tanzania, Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks linked to the local members of the Egyptian Jihad which brought Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri to America's attention for the first time. This resulted in America placing Osama Bin Laden in the Ten Most Wanted List. The bombings was believed to be revenge of American involvement in the torture of four members of the Egyptian Jihad who had been arrested in Albania. On August 7, between 10:30am and 10:40am (3:30am-3:40am Washington Time), suicide bombers in trucks with explosives parked outside the embassies in Nairobi. In Nairobi, approximately 212 people were killed, and an estimated 400 wounded; Seismologists analyzed that the bombs had the energy of between 3-17 tons of high explosive material.
In response to the bombings, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered for Operation Infinite Reach, a series of cruise missile strikes on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan on August 20, 1998, announcing the planned strike on a primetime address on television. Investigations were conducted about the embassy bombings by the FBI and Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities. A list of suspects were made and the men were charged for the involvement in the bombings. The embassies were heavily damaged and the one in Nairobi, Kenya had to be rebuilt. In a telephone message relayed by his ally, Ayman Zawahiri, the fugitive leader of Egypt's Jihad organization, Osama Bin Laden warned: "The war has just started and the Americans should wait for an answer. Tell the Americans that we aren't afraid of bombardment, threats and acts of aggression. We suffered and survived Soviet bombings for 10 years in Afghanistan and we are ready for more sacrifices."
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