Al-Qa'ida used war-torn Somalia as a base to plan and launch Mombassa hotel bombing
A year after Al Qa’ida terrorists bombed a Kenyan tourist hotel, a new investigation has highlighted the pivotal role played by Somalia in the attack, and raised fears that a fresh atrocity could be launched from the war-torn country. Somalia served as a training base, weapons supermarket and hideout for the Al Qa’ida cell that carried out last November’s twin attacks near Mombasa, according to UN investigators. In a report due to come before the UN Security Council next week, the investigators describe how the terrorists used the country as a base – training under cover of a lobster-fishing business, buying Soviet-made missiles locally, and stealing across the Kenyan border in speedboats and traditional wooden boats.