2002 Mombasa attacks
| 2002 Mombasa attacks | |
|---|---|
Arkia had two Boeing 757s at the time of the attack.
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  The attack site
Location of Mombasa in Kenya |
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| Location | Mombasa, Kenya |
| Coordinates | 4°03′00″S 39°39′58″E / 4.05°S 39.666°ECoordinates: 4°03′00″S 39°39′58″E / 4.05°S 39.666°E |
| Date | 28 November 2002 |
| Target | Israeli hotel and plane |
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Attack type
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car bombing, suicide attack, attempted shootdown |
| Weapons | surface-to-air missile |
| Deaths | 13 victims (3 Israelis, 10 Kenyans) and 3 suicide bombers |
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Non-fatal injuries
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80 |
| Perpetrators | al-Qaeda |
The 2002 Mombasa attacks were terrorist attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and a plane belonging to an Israeli airline, Arkia Airlines, in Mombasa, Kenya, on 28 November 2002. An all-terrain vehicle crashed through a barrier outside the Paradise Hotel and blew up, killing 13 and injuring 80. At the same time, attackers fired two surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli charter plane. The Paradise Hotel was the only Israeli-owned hotel in the Mombasa area.
The blast occurred on the eve of Hanukkah just after some 60 visitors had checked into the hotel, all of them from Israel for a holiday stay. Thirteen people were killed and 80 injured. Ten Kenyans died in the attack and three Israelis, two of them children. Nine of the victims were dancers who had been employed to welcome hotel guests. In an overnight rescue mission, four Israeli military Hercules planes were sent to Mombasa to evacuate the dead and injured.
Almost simultaneously, two shoulder-launched Strela 2 (SA-7) surface-to-air missiles were fired at a chartered Boeing 757 airliner owned by Israel-based Arkia Airlines as it took off from Moi International Airport. The Arkia charter company had a regular weekly service flying tourists between Tel Aviv and Mombasa. Kenyan police discovered a missile launcher and two missile casings in the Changamwe area of Mombasa, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the airport. The pilots planned on an emergency landing in Nairobi after seeing the two missiles streak past them, but decided to continue to Israel. The airliner landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv about five hours later, escorted by Israeli F-15 fighter jets. Following the attack, all flights from Israel to Kenya were cancelled indefinitely.
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Wikipedia