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Suspects in embassy bombings allegedly attack prison guard
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal prison guard is hospitalized in critical condition after being stabbed in the eye allegedly by a defendant in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Africa. The officer, whose name was not released, underwent surgery at New York's Bellevue hospital at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesman. The officer remained in critical condition Thursday. Two of the bombing suspects, who also were not identified, were meeting with their attorneys when the attack took place. One defendant stabbed the officer, a law enforcement official said, adding that the second defendant participated in the attack.
The bombing suspects have been held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, or MCC, in New York's lower Manhattan. A correctional center official said the two men were placed in administrative detention after the attack. The suspects have been charged with murder and conspiracy in connection with the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es- Salaam, Tanzania. One man, Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Army sergeant, on October 20 pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. He is awaiting sentencing. He also testified that he had provided training to followers of exiled Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden, now living in Afghanistan, is believed to be the head of an international terrorist network that targets U.S. citizens. Bin Laden has also been named as a chief suspect in the October 12 bomb attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 sailors. Five other men have also been charged with plotting the bombings of the embassies, actions that U.S. officials believe bin Laden oversaw. The defendants awaiting trial are:
• Wadih el-Hage, a naturalized American, admitted that he served in the early 1990s as bin Laden's personal secretary. Last year, el-Hage lunged at a judge during a pretrial hearing, and he has repeatedly complained about harsh prison conditions. • Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a Sudanese national, is charged with being one of bin Laden's top financial officers. • Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, a Jordanian national, is accused of planning and executing the embassy attack in Nairobi. • Mohamed Rashed al-'Owhali is accused of murder in connection with the Kenya bombing. He has said that the attack was supposed to be a suicide mission, and that he had not expected to survive the blast. • Khalfan Khamis Mohamed is the only defendant in custody charged with a role in embassy blast in Tanzania. The five currently share three cells -- they rotate the cells and roommates -- in a maximum-security wing in the prison. The system for their accommodations was devised after the defendants complained of harsh conditions in the jail. Ali Mohamed, meanwhile, is being housed in another section of the prison. Seventeen people have been indicted in connection with the bombings. Three other suspects are in London awaiting extradition to the United States. Eight additional suspects, including bin Laden, remain at large. RELATED STORIES: Defendant linked to U.S. embassy bombing pleads guilty RELATED SITES: NYU School of Medicine -- Bellevue Hospital Center | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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