The 1992 Aden hotel bombings were two

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

attacks carried out by

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

on December 29, 1992, that were intended to kill

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. It is considered to be the first attack on the United States by Al-Qaeda, though the objective was unsuccessful.

Attacks

On December 29, 1992, the

Islamist terrorist Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities ...

group

detonate Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with s ...

d a bomb at the

Gold Mohur Hotel The Gold Mohur Hotel () is a resort hotel on Aden, Yemen. On 29 December 1992, Al Qaeda conducted its first known terrorist attack in Aden, bombing the Gold Mohur Hotel, where U.S. servicemen were known to have been staying en route to Somalia ...

, where United States Marine Corps would be staying while on their way to

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

to participate in

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...

. This is considered to be the first attack on the United States by al-Qaeda, though the objective was unsuccessful, as the troops had already left before the bomb was detonated. However, an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

and a hotel employee were killed and four Austrian tourists were injured. A second bomb detonated prematurely at the Aden Mövenpick Hotel, where other United States Marines had also been staying, and three people were injured, none of whom were

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

. At the time, the bombings did not give the United States cause for concern because no Americans had died.Michael Scheuer, ''Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition'' (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2006), p. 147. In April 1993, intelligence believed that

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

had a role in the attacks. Immediately after the bombings, the US announced the withdrawal of troops from

, the place it was using to support operations in Somalia.

Motives

Al-Qaeda intended this first attack against the United States as part of a larger campaign. At the time, the United States had been intervening in

in an effort to stabilize the country and get aid to those who were in need during a military campaign known as

. Earlier in 1992, al-Qaeda allegedly was training Somali militants to fight against US forces. Links have been made between this training and the devastation of the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, which resulted in 18 deaths and 80 wounded US troops. In March 1997, bin Laden said, "With

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

’s grace, Muslims over there cooperated with some Arab

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

who were in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

… against the American occupation troops and killed large numbers of them," in an interview on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

.Phil Hirschkorn, "Scant Evidence Shown to Link bin Laden to GI Deaths in Somalia". CNN. 20 April 2001. In 1998, bin Laden would take credit for the bombings, claiming, "The United States wanted to set up a military base for US soldiers in Yemen, so that it could send fresh troops to Somalia… The Arab mujaheddin related to the Afghan

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

carried out two bomb explosions in

to warn the United States, causing damage to some Americans staying in those hotels. The United States received our warning and gave up the idea of setting up its military bases in Yemen. This was the first al-Qaeda victory scored against the

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

rs." This was not entirely true, since no Americans were injured or killed, nor did the United States recognize this action as a warning. At the time, "The troops went on to Somalia as scheduled, but the triumphant leaders of al-Qaeda said that they had frightened the Americans away and scored an easy victory."Lawrence Wright, ''The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11'' (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), 198.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aden hotel bombings, 1992 1992 murders in Asia 1992 hotel bombings Attacks on buildings and structures in 1992 Attacks on buildings and structures in Yemen Attacks on hotels in Asia December 1992 crimes December 1992 events in Asia Improvised explosive device bombings in 1992 Improvised explosive device bombings in Yemen Islamic terrorism in Yemen Islamic terrorist incidents in 1992 1992 bombings Terrorist incidents attributed to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 1992 hotel bombings Terrorist incidents in Yemen in 1992 Hotel bombings