United States Embassy Bombings (1998)

On August 7, 1998, two separate U.S. embassies were attacked by truck bombs in the cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks were especially violent, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people, including Americans, Tanzanians, and Kenyans. The bombings are believed to have been initiated, in part, as retaliation for the United States' involvement in the extradition from Albania of four members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad several months earlier. As a result of the U.S. Embassy bombings, Osama bin Laden came to the attention of the American public for the first time, ultimately being placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted list.