There was no immediate claim for either of the back-to-back bombs which struck United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam yesterday. At least 76 people died and over 1,000 were injured. The dead included eight Americans, all members of the Nairobi US embassy staff.
However, the Egyptian armed Islamic movement Jihad had warned the previous day of "reprisals" against the United States for its involvement in the extradition to Egypt of several militants living in eastern Europe.
"We want to inform the Americans that we have received their message and are preparing a response. Watch out," Jihad had warned.
Witnesses in Nairobi said a man, dressed in a traditional Arab garment, was detained after the explosion when a US Marine guard at the Nairobi embassy thought he was acting suspiciously and alerted city police. Police gave no details.
The US poured FBI agents, military anti-terrorist experts and medical teams into the region.
A 40-member US Marines antiterrorism team attached to the Tampa, Florida-based US Central Command was ordered to the region, "to perform security functions," the Pentagon said.
US military aircraft were departing simultaneously from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington and from Ramstein, Germany for Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, said a spokeswoman.
The central Nairobi blast, by far the worse, came at 10:30 a.m. local time (8.30 a.m. Irish time).
It shattered large parts of the embassy and the adjacent 25-story Co-operative House Bank building, spewing glass and concrete and sending blood-soaked people fleeing in panic through the busy downtown intersection.
Rescuers worked feverishly into the evening probing the rubble of the embassy and office tower for survivors and bodies, at times tearing planks from the wreckage for use as makeshift stretchers.
Hospital sources said most of the more than 1,000 injuries were serious ones.
The US ambassador to Kenya, Ms Prudence Bushnell, suffered facial cuts but was not in a serious condition, the State Department said.
Within minutes of that blast, an explosion rocked the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, killing six, according to the State Department, and injuring more than 50 people, according to hospital sources. The nationalities of the dead were not given.
Tanzanian police said preliminary investigations indicated a bomb had been concealed in a petrol tanker belonging to the US mission. It exploded as it was entering the grounds of the embassy residence, police said.
The bomb also damaged the nearby French embassy, but there were no reports of casualties.
The bomb in Nairobi blew out virtually every window in buildings within a 300 m radius, raining razor-like shards on helpless pedestrians.
The driver of a bus on the busy street in front of the embassy, apparently hit full in the head by a piece of flying concrete, sat dead in his vehicle, slumped over the steering wheel.
A large crater was visible in the pavement to the rear of the bank, where at least six parked vehicles were carbonised.
The blast occurred in the morning when the Co-operative Bank Building's offices were full, and hundreds of panicked employees poured out.
The street was littered with injured awaiting evacuation.
"Everybody was shocked by the explosion. Ceilings collapsed on us. It was moments before we started running out," said Mr Roy Mugo, who was in the bank building at the time of the blast.
A thick plume of black smoke rose from the blast area in the capital's center at midday.
At least 24 people are feared drowned in Lake Victoria after a boat capsized in the Tanzanian port of Kahunda, 80 km west of Mwanza. A launch boat carrying 30 people to a passenger ship overturned on Thursday after striking the passenger ship itself.