right|thumb|200 px|L'ambasciata USA a Nairobi dopo l'attentato.  

Gli '''attentati alle ambasciate statunitensi del 1998''' colpirono le sedi diplomatiche degli Stati Uniti in al-Qā‘ida, e sono considerati fra i più importanti attacchi terroristici contro gli Stati Uniti perpetrati prima dei fatti dell'11 settembre 2001. Il bilancio complessivo delle vittime fu di 223 morti e circa 4000 feriti.

==Gli attacchi==
I due attacchi avvennero a saudita durante la prima guerra del Golfo. In entrambi i casi, le ambasciate furono colpite dalla deflagrazione di ordigni esplosivi.

L'esplosione a Nairobi fu la più violenta delle due due, e fu udita a oltre 30 km di distanza. L'ambasciata statunitense fu distrutta, e anche diversi edifici circostanti risultarono gravemente danneggiati. Le vittime accertate furono 212, con circa 4000 feriti. A Dar es Salaam fu danneggiata la struttura dell'ambasciata, con un bilancio di 11 morti e 85 feriti. In entrambi i casi, quasi tutte le vittime erano africani; complessivamente persero la vita solo 12 cittadini statunitensi, tutti a Nairobi.

==Rivendicazione==
Gli attentati furono rivendicati da Osama bin Laden, ma le motivazioni non furono mai del tutto chiarite. In alcuni messaggi, bin Laden sostenne che nelle ambasciate colpite era stato programmato il genocidio ruandese; in altre occasioni sostenne che la motivazione era stata l'invasione della Somalia nell'operazione Restore Hope, o l'intenzione degli Stati Uniti di dividere il Sudan in due nazioni separate.

right|thumb|200 px|Aftermath at the Nairobi embassy.   
In the '''1998 U.S. Embassy bombings''' (embassies in the Ten Most Wanted list.

Along with the Mohamed Elhajouji USS Cole'' in Yemen, the Embassy Bombing is one of the major anti-American terrorist attacks that preceded the September 11, 2001 attacks. 

==Attacks and casualties==
Car bombs in vehicles adjacent to the embassies were detonated almost simultaneously before 10:45 am local time (3:45 am Washington time).<ref></ref> In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed (including at least 12 Americans) and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.<ref name="newshour"></ref>

Although the targets of the attacks were US government facilities, most of its victims were African civilians: about 200 Kenyans were killed at the embassy in Nairobi, and 11 Tanzanians were killed in Dar es Salaam.<ref name="newshour"/> 

===Motivation===
According to journalist genocide in Rwanda had been planned inside the two American embassies." 

Wright concludes that none of these claims made sense, and that bin Laden's actual goal was "to lure the United States into Afghanistan, which was already being called 'The Graveyard of Empires.'"<ref>Wright, Lawrence, ''Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,'' by Lawrence Wright, NY, Knopf, 2006, p.272</ref>  According to a 1998 memo authored by Mohammed Atef and seized by the FBI, around the time of the attacks, al-Qaeda had both an interest in and specific knowledge of negotiations between the Taliban and the American-led gas pipeline consortium CentGas.<ref></ref>  The bombings also happened at an symbolic date: "August 7th, 1998, was the eighth anniversary of the arrival of American troops in Saudi Arabia in 1990", an issue of Osama bin Laden's greatest concern (Rohan Gunaratna 2002: Inside Al Qaeda, page 46).

==Aftermath and international response==
right|frame|Wreckage from the Nairobi bombing.
In response to the bombings, Operation Infinite Reach, a series of cruise missile strikes on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan on August 20 1998, announcing the planned strike in a primetime address on American television.  

In Sudan, the missiles destroyed the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant, where 50% of Sudan's medications for both people and animals were manufactured.  The Clinton Administration claimed that there was ample evidence to prove that the plant produced chemical weapons, but a thorough investigation after the missile strikes revealed that the intelligence was unreliable<ref>Barletta, Michael.  “Chemical Weapons in the Sudan:  Allegations and Evidence.”  Nonproliferation 	Review.  Monterey Institute of International Studies 6:1 (1998):  5-48. <http://www.intellnet.org/documents/800/050/850.htm>.</ref>.

Investigations into the embassy bombings were conducted by the FBI and Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities. A list of suspects was drawn up and several men were charged for their involvement in the bombings. 

The embassies were heavily damaged, and one had to be rebuilt.