Embassy bombing suspect implicated

The embassy after the August 1998 bomb attack

By Jane Hughes in New York

A witness in the US embassy bombing trial has said he saw one of the defendants throwing explosives towards a guard just before the explosion at the Nairobi embassy.

It is the first time anyone has given the court an eyewitness account linking one of the defendants directly to the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people.

Hundreds were injured in the blast

Four men are standing trial in a federal court in New York accused of plotting the bombings and conspiring with the Saudi militant, Osama bin Laden, to kill Americans around the world.

All four defendants deny the charges and their trial is expected to last up to a year.

The jury has been listening intently to evidence from a series of witnesses who lived through the bombing of the Kenyan embassy.

On Thursday, they heard from a man who pointed directly at one of the defendants and said he saw him throw explosives at the building.

Charles Mwaka Mula, an embassy employee, said he watched Mohammed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali get out of a truck, go up to a guard and throw something at the man which then exploded.

As he walked away, a massive bomb detonated, devastating the building.

Confession

Other witnesses have already implicated Al-'Owhali in the bombing.

An FBI agent said the defendant confessed to him when he interviewed him in the days after the explosion.

He said Al-'Owhali told him the embassy was chosen as a target because it was easy to hit and because the ambassador was a woman whose death would attract more publicity.

He allegedly said he was a passenger in the truck that carried the explosives and that he and the driver expected to die and become martyrs.

The defendant has argued in court papers that he was intimidated into confessing.