SFGate
Monday, June 13, 2011
"We have not forgotten your losses," Clinton told diplomats and employees at the embassy in Dar es Salaam, built after the attacks, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. She spoke after laying flowers in front of a stone memorial for the dead, accompanied by three Tanzanians who survived the bombing.
"And we have also not forgotten our pledge to seek justice against those who would commit such atrocities," Clinton said.
The mastermind of the bombings, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, al Qaeda's leader in East Africa, was killed in a late-night shootout Tuesday at a military checkpoint in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital. Somali and U.S. officials confirmed his identity Saturday, as Clinton arrived in Tanzania on a visit intended to highlight American aid programs and the progress she said the country had made.
Mohammed, also known by U.S. authorities as Haroun Fazul, was indicted for his role in masterminding the bombings and remained on the FBI's most-wanted list, with a $5 million bounty for information leading to his capture. Rather than being the target of a military operation, he appeared to have blundered into a checkpoint in a part of Mogadishu controlled by the government and was killed in a firefight.
Somali officials said his identity had been confirmed through DNA tests while suggesting that they were helped by U.S. intelligence officials.
He was the third major al Qaeda figure killed in recent weeks, beginning with the death of Osama bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan last month. An American drone strike killed a senior operations commander for the group, Ilyas Kashmiri, in Pakistan this month.
"I know nothing can replace those who have been taken from us by such senseless violence," Clinton said, "but I know justice was served and I hope that can give you some measure of comfort."