15 years since Kenya, Tanzania embassy attacks

NAIROBI — American personnel at the US Embassy in Nairobi will stand beside Kenyan colleagues Wednesday who were wounded in the devastating attack on the downtown embassy 15 years ago.

During a week of heightened security concerns at US embassies mostly in the Arab world, the East African countries of Rwanda, Burundi, Mauritius and Madagascar were added to the US embassy closures list Sunday. Diplomatic posts in 19 cities will be closed this week.

Rwanda and Burundi sit in the same East African region that holds Kenya and Tanzania, the two countries hit in simultaneous embassy attacks masterminded by Osama bin Laden on Aug. 7, 1998, killing 224 people, mostly Kenyans.

The State Department shut down US facilities in countries like Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait until Aug. 10.