Al-Qaida operatives who attacked a hotel and plane in Kenya trained, plotted and obtained weapons in neighboring Somalia, a U.N. report says, lending support to U.S. concerns the lawless Horn of Africa nation could be a haven for terrorists. The draft report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, details how an al-Qaida cell trained in Mogadishu in November 2001, smuggled surface-to-air missiles from Somalia to Kenya in August 2002, then fled back to Somalia after attacking a Kenyan resort hotel and an Israeli charter aircraft on Nov. 28. Twelve Kenyans and three Israeli tourists were killed when at least two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden car into the Paradise Hotel along the Indian Ocean coast. Almost simultaneously, two surface-to-air missiles were fired at an Israeli charter jet taking off from nearby Mombasa, but they missed. At least four members of the terror cell remain in Somalia, according to the report prepared by a panel of experts appointed by the United Nations. The report did not name the four. Full Story
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