MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Kenyan man blinded in an al-Qaida attack on a U.S. Embassy 13 years ago said Sunday he welcomed news of the death of the mastermind who planned the blasts in Kenya and Tanzania, as Somalis said they hoped his death in their war-torn country would bring peace.
Somali officials announced Saturday that their soldiers killed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed at a checkpoint in the capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday.
The death of Mohammed — a man who topped the FBI's most wanted list for nearly 13 years for planning the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings in Kenya and Tanzania — is the third major strike in six weeks against the worldwide terror group that was headed by Osama bin Laden until his death last month.
Mohammed had been on the run for more than a decade with a $5 million bounty on his head. He was thought to be hiding in Somalia, whose ineffective government has been unable to stop terror groups from operating.
Somali Information Minister Abdulkareem Hassan Jama said DNA tests confirmed that Mohammed was killed.