Kenya, Tanzania mark 10th anniversary of U.S. embassy bombings

Associated Press U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Green, stands to attention during the singing of the U.S. national anthem Thursday during the 10th anniversary of the Aug. 7, 1998, attack on the U.S. embassy in Tanzania. Kenya and Tanzania marked the 10th anniversary of deadly bombings at the countries' U.S. embassies, as police conducted a manhunt for the al-Qaida suspect believed to have masterminded the attack.

NAIROBI, Kenya—Douglas Sidialo woke up in a Nairobi hospital 10 years ago, devastated to find he had been blinded by flying glass after al-Qaida bombed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

His thoughts immediately turned to revenge on terror leader Osama bin Laden.

“I could have skinned him alive,” said Sidialo, who was among the hundreds marking the 10-year anniversary Thursday of the bombings that killed more than 200 people and wounded 5,000.

The bombings on Aug. 7, 1998, were the first major al-Qaida attack on U.S. targets. The alleged mastermind, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, has been on the run for years; he apparently escaped a police raid on the Kenyan coast last weekend.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Mohammed’s recent escape shows the country remains at risk.

“The stark revelations of the last few days have reminded us yet again that we have terrorists in our midst still planning awful deeds,” Odinga said during a ceremony at the downtown site of the former embassy, which is now a memorial garden.

Mohammed still has a $5 million bounty on his head.

“We must therefore never relax our vigilance against these extremists,” Odinga told the crowd of about 400. “Let me assure Kenyans that this government will do everything possible to prevent us from ever again being attacked.”