Prosecutors launching the trial of four Kenyans charged with killing 15 people in a bomb attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa said today they would show the al-Qaeda network was behind the attack.
The trial kicked off today after prosecutors and defence agreed on three court assessors, or jurors, at the hearing.
The four accused, Mohamed Ali Saleh Nabhan, Omar Said Omar, Mohammed Kubwa and Aboud Rogo Mohammed, are also charged with a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner with a missile.
High Court Judge John Osiemo read out the charges afresh to the four suspects who denied them.
The missile attack happened within minutes of the suicide bombing that killed 15 people at the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, north of the Indian Ocean coastal city Mombasa.
"The prosecution shall give evidence showing the intricate planning by the terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of the Kikambala bombing which took place since the early months of 2002," lead prosecutor Mr Edwin Okello said.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Mombasa attacks. US officials say al-Qaeda was also responsible for bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 which killed more than 200 people.