Al-'Owhali, Mohamed Rashed (1977–)

aka Mohammed Akbar, Abdul Ali Latif, Khalid Salim Saleh bin Rashid

Mohamed Rashed al-'Owhali is known for being the failed martyr who ran from the bomb-laden truck in front of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, just before it exploded. A member of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, al-'Owhali was later captured and convicted of playing a direct role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa; he is now serving a life sentence in the United States.

Al-'Owhali was born in Liverpool, England, where his wealthy Saudi father was a student. He formed radical ideas as a teenager, listening to audiotapes of conservative clerics and reading religious magazines. After high school, al-'Owhali studied at Mohamed bin Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

After graduating from college, al-'Owhali and a group of friends left for Afghanistan to join the fight against the Soviets. In Afghanistan, al-'Owhali studied military and covert operations; he also met Al Qaeda leaders and fought with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in 1996.

Al-'Owhali was later recruited for the attack on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. In July 1998, he used a Yemeni passport to travel to Kenya, just a week before the bombing. In his confession, al-'Owhali said that the operation was planned so that he and a fellow driver would die as martyrs. On August 7, 1998, al-'Owhali rode in the cab of the Toyota truck carrying the bomb to the U.S. embassy compound in Nairobi. As the truck neared the embassy, he threw a grenade at the guard stationed outside. Once the truck pulled up alongside the embassy, al-'Owhali decided that his death was not necessary for the mission to be accomplished. Just before his partner detonated the bomb from inside the cab, al-'Owhali ran from the embassy compound.

The blast partially demolished the embassy; 400 miles away in Dar es Salaam, another bomb exploded at the U.S. embassy. In total, the blasts killed 224 people. Al-'Owhali, who had cuts and abrasions all around his hands and face and a large wound on his back, was left without money or plane tickets, as he had been expected to die in the bombing. He went to a local hospital to get treatment, and, while in the hospital bathroom, threw away keys from the padlock to the back of the bomb truck and three bullets from a gun he had left in the truck. Two days later, Kenyan officials found and arrested him. He was later tried with three others in a New York court. During the trial, the prosecuting attorney showed a photograph, taken after the bombing, of al-'Owhali, his hands clasped together in the boxer's symbol of victory.

In June 2001, a jury sentenced the 24-year-old to life in prison. Several jurors said that they had decided against the death penalty because executing [Page 20]al-'Owhali could give him martyr's status in terrorists' eyes.