Witnesses spoke of bloodied survivors staggering to the beach from the shattered Mombasa Paradise resort hotel and screaming for water. Most of the guests at the hotel were believed to be Israelis.

Police said the attackers rammed their car into the hotel reception area, killing themselves, six Kenyans and two Israelis. Eighty people were wounded, Kenya's ambassador to Israel said.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said three Israelis were killed, two of them children.

Most of the wreckage of the bombers' car was left 15 metres from the entrance.

"Around 7:30 am (local time), we heard a massive explosion. The entire building shook. From what I can gather, a car crashed through the gates of the hotel and into the lobby," witness Kelly Hartog wrote on the website of Israel's Jerusalem Post.

Within minutes of the hotel blast, missiles were fired at an Israeli Arkia airliner carrying 261 passengers as it took off from Mombasa's airport.

"About 2 kilometres from the airport, two missiles were fired at the aircraft from a white Pajero by some people who are suspected to be of Arab origin. Both missiles missed the aircraft," police spokesman Kimgori Mwangi said, adding all the passengers aboard were safe and that it landed safely in Tel Aviv.

The attackers, Mwangi said, were also described as of Arab appearance and driving a white four-wheel-drive Pajero they had turned into a suicide bomb.

Israeli and Kenyan officials were quick to say yesterday's attacks were the work of the al-Qaida network, blamed by Washington for perpetrating the September 11 attacks last year on the United States and for the bloody 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

If so, it would be the first direct attack on Israelis by Islamic militant Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

"Just after a group of tourists were brought to the hotel, I saw a white Pajero forcing its way through the gate," said a barman at a hotel across the road from the Mombasa Paradise, adding the attack happened at about 8:30 am (local time).

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said only that the government was gathering information on the attacks and declined further comment.

The Paradise hotel outside Mombasa was used by Israelis and other foreign tourists and Israeli media reports said it was Israeli-owned.

As the Israeli-owned hotel and airliner were targeted in Kenya, members of Israel's Likud party were choosing yesterday who would lead them into the January general elections, and probably head the next government - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The 300,000 cardholders of the right-wing party started casting their ballots at some of Israel's 678 polling stations, which were due to close around 2000 GMT.

(China Daily November 29, 2002)