The terrorist responsible for the fatal bombing of the Jewish-owned Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 31 was identified by Kenyan authorities yesterday as 34-year-old Qaddura Mohammed Abd al-Hamid, a Moroccan member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
A time bomb exploded in the hotel during New Year’s Eve celebrations, killing 15 persons and injuring 85 others, most of them foreign tourists. The government news agency in Nairobi said in a statement released yesterday that al-Hamid arrived there Dec. 23 using a Maltese passport and false name and left Kenya for Saudi Arabia seven hours before the bomb blast. According to the statement, he is a former member of El Fatah, the terrorist branch of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Some observers suggested that Nairobi was chosen for the outrage because Kenya aided the Israeli commando force that rescued the Air France hijack hostages from Entebbe Airport near Kampala, Uganda in July, 1976.
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