[4] The attacks were believed to be orchestrated by al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia in an attempt to disrupt the Israeli tourist industry on the African continent.

In an overnight rescue mission, four Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Israeli Air Force were sent to Mombasa to evacuate the dead and injured.

[3] Almost simultaneous to the attack on the hotel, two shoulder-launched Strela 2 (SA-7) surface-to-air missiles were fired at a chartered Boeing 757 owned by Israel-based Arkia Airlines as it took off from Moi International Airport.

The airliner landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv about five hours later, escorted by Israeli F-15 fighter jets.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, leader of the London-based Islamic organisation Al Muhajiroun, said that warnings had appeared on the Internet.

But four days after the blast, Brigadier-General Yossi Kuperwasser admitted that Israeli military intelligence were aware of a threat in Kenya, but that it was not specific enough.

[11] Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was a foreign leader of the jihadist fundamentalist group, Al-Shabaab, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.

There have been four other suspected attackers affiliated with the al-Qaeda cell in Kenya, but the Kenyan prosecutors have had trouble establishing guilt with certainty.

They had hoped that by sending a message to the Israelis through this attack, they would grow closer to achieving their goal of establishing a Somali Islamic state.

This enabled the jihadist movement to acquire a strong grip within Kenya, as Kenyan nationals assisted in the attacks on the Paradise Hotel and on the Boeing 757.

To plan and coordinate the attacks, al-Qaeda operatives rented houses in affluent neighborhoods to meet up with the non-Kenyan suicide bombers.

Following the advisories and the suspension of British Airways flights to Nairobi, the Kenyan economy began losing nearly $130 million per week.