Prelude: How masterminds plotted 1998 attack under the police's nose

At the home, the security men found El Hage's mother-in-law. However, she did not reveal much about her fugitive son-in-law.

But they found something very crucial - El Hage's computer. On the hard drive, the CID and FBI found a chilling letter, which they believed had been written by Fazul Mohamed, who was El Hage's houseguest. Fazul, who also had links with bin Laden, had been living with the El Hage family in Nairobi.

The secret letter clearly outlined the presence of a terror cell in Nairobi, operating under the instructions of "the Haj" or Osama bin Laden. Fazul was not at home when police knocked the door.

As Fazul and other associates plotted the Nairobi bombing, he moved his family to Khartoum, joining the contingent of Al-Qaeda families that had relocated there from South Asia with bin Laden.

For months, Fazul moved relatively frequently between Khartoum, Nairobi and Mogadishu, undertaking a variety of tasks related to the plot. Travel between these points was facilitated by the existence of an underground transportation network used in the movement of miraa, a plant chewed mostly by Somalis for its narcotic properties.

The US embassy bombings took nearly five years of preparations and planning. Fazul was centrally involved at every step along the way. After Ali Mohammad identified the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam embassies as suitable targets, Fazul rented an apartment in Nairobi in 1994.

Fazul lived there for much of the year. His other wife, Halima, joined him in May 1994. By then, Fazul was a relatively low-level Al-Qaeda operative.

As he mastered the rules of the underworld, he received directions from Wadih el-Hage and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah. Prior to the embassy bombings, he was promoted to media and communications officer for the East African cell from the beginning of 1997. He communicated with Al-Qaeda high command via the London-based Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi national.

Ufundi Co-op House caved inward after the blast, trapping scores of people under the massive rubble. [File, Standard]

As months went by, the bombers started carrying out surveillance on their targets. Key men were moved to Nairobi and Dar es Salam in mid-1998.

On May 1, 1998, with the help of a local named Sikander Juma, Fazul rented a large walled villa home at 43 Runda Estate, an upscale residential neighbourhood just outside Nairobi.

The house was fortified by a high stone wall, concealing what was going on to outsiders. The house had a garage that could accommodate a pickup truck. This home was the bomb factory where the device used to attack the Nairobi US Embassy was assembled.

Although Fazul told the property owner, Tamarra Ratemo, that he needed the large house for his family and business guests, his family lived with Sikander Juma and at Wadih el-Hage's home in Nairobi.

The villa was to be used exclusively as the bomb factory for the Nairobi embassy bombing. In mid-1998, Fazul was one of the key players in the lead-up to the bombing.

On August 4, 1998, Mohammed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah set off for a mission to spy on the Nairobi embassy, located at the junction of Moi and Haile Selassie avenues.

They rehearsed how the bomb-delivery truck would be placed. It was decided that it would be too risky to attempt to drive into the embassy's basement. The two men agreed the truck would drive close to the rear of the building and the bomb detonated.

As the hours to attack drew closer, Abdul Rahman made the final connection between the bomb and the detonation device, which was located in the passenger compartment of the bomb-delivery truck.

On the morning of August 7, 1998, two sets of the terror gangs left their hideouts. In two light-coloured vehicles, one gang left the Runda home and another from Hilltop Hotel in downtown Nairobi, near Kirinyaga Road.

They were destined for the Nairobi US embassy. Fazul was in control of the first vehicle, a pick-up truck. Jihad Mohammed was driving the second car, behind Fazul's. Al-Owhali sat on the co-driver's seat with Jihad.

Al-Owhali was armed with a pistol and a number of homemade stun grenades. The gang arrived at the embassy at 10.30am. Once in the embassy parking bay, Al-Owhali's was to "scare away" people in the vicinity of the compound. Al-Owhali was also to manually detonate the bomb, in the event that the device malfunctioned.

However, upon alighting from the bomb delivery vehicle, a tensed Al-Owhali forgot his pistol in the truck. He had stun grenades. Instead of returning to the bomb vehicle, Al-Owhali brandished a stun grenade before throwing it in the direction of a security guard.

First responders at the blast site bravely attempt to rescue survivors. [File, Standard]

Al-Owhali and Jihad had prepared for their martyrdom in what was to be a suicide bombing. Al-Owhali, however, fled the scene of the bombing when the attack diverged from the original plan.

To save the situation, Jihad Mohammed Ali manually detonated the bomb. The loud explosion killed him instantly.

Al-Owhali was subsequently arrested in a hospital in Nairobi and sent to the United States on August 27, 1998.

A month after Fazul rented the Runda home, Khalfan Khamis Mohammed signed a lease to rent a house in the Ilala District of Dar es Salaam. This house shared many characteristics with the one Fazul rented; it was outside the city, had high stonewalls and had a garage to fit a truck.

This is the house where the bomb used to destroy the US embassy in Dar es Salaam was assembled and concealed.

Working with the Tanzania CID, the FBI established five members of the Dar es Salaam cell. They were Fahad Mohammed Ally, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Ahmed Salim Swedan, Khalfan Khamis Mohammed and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah.

It was Ghailani, a Tanzanian, who purchased the bomb delivery vehicle, assisted by Ahmed Salim Swedan. Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah was directly involved in planning the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. Ghailani bought the 1987 Nissan Atlas truck that carried the Tanzania bomb. He also purchased the oxygen and acetylene tanks used in the detonation.

On the day the Dar es Salaam embassy was attacked, Hamden Khalif Allah Awad aka Ahmed the German was picked to drive the bomb delivery truck to the US embassy in Dar es Salaam. He was killed instantly after he detonated the bomb outside the embassy.

Minutes after the Dar es Salaam bombing, one of the bombers, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, took photographs of the embassy's smoking ruins from a nearby Suzuki Samari.