Aug. 7, 1998 Truck bombs explode at American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Twelve Americans and close to 250 Africans die. More than 5,000 are injured. U.S. President Bill Clinton promises an all-out effort to capture those responsible and meets with his foreign policy team to explore options for "potential actions that we might take."

Aug. 11, 1998 U.S. intelligence agencies say that terrorist group al Qaida, which is led by outcast Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, is responsible for the two embassy bombings. The White House holds an emergency meeting to plan a response.

Aug. 12, 1998 Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali and another man, considered suspects in the embassy bombing in Nairobi, are detained in Kenya and questioned by local officials. U.S. investigators say al-'Owhali confesses to being involved in the Nairobi bombing. Another man, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh had been arrested the day of the bombing in Pakistan.

Aug. 20, 1998 The United States retaliates with two missile strikes, one against a suspected bin Laden terrorist camp in Afghanistan, the other against a chemical plant in Sudan, which U.S. officials say manufactured nerve gas and has links to terrorist activities.

Aug. 27, 1998 Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali and Mohammed Sadeek Odeh, both linked to bin Laden, are sent to the United States for trial. They are charged with the murder of the 12 Americans killed in the Kenya bombing, murder conspiracy and the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Sept. 16, 1998 German police arrest Mamduh Mahmud Salim, a senior official in bin Laden's organization, and U.S. officials file charges against him in New York. U.S. investigators describe Salim as a major financial operative and weapons procurer for bin Laden.

Sept. 18, 1998 Wadih el-Hage, an American citizen who has admitted to being bin Laden's personal secretary in the Sudan in 1994, is arrested in Texas by FBI agents. He is indicted three days later on eight counts of perjury and three counts of making false statements during questioning about the embassy bombings.

Nov. 20, 1998 Afghanistan's Taliban militia offers bin Laden safe haven after the United States indicts him for the embassy bombings.

June 7, 1999 The F.B.I. adds bin Laden to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Oct. 7, 1999 Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, whose house in Tanzania was allegedly used as a bomb factory, is arrested in South Africa. He is extradited to the United States and appears before a judge in New York City the next day.

Oct. 20, 2000 Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Army sergeant and native to Egypt, pleads guilty to helping plot the embassy bombings. He says that he joined bin Laden and others in a holy war to kill Americans all over the world. Of the 17 people indicted in the U.S. for the 1998 bombings, he becomes the first to plead guilty.

Nov. 1, 2000 Salim, bin Laden's alleged finance chief, is accused of attacking a prison guard at a federal jail in New York. In addition to the charges against him for the embassy bombings, he is charged with attempted murder. Salim is removed from the bombing trial to be tried separately.

Jan. 3, 2001 More than two years after the bombings, the four alleged conspirators go on trial. Jury selection begins in a New York federal District Court. Of the 22 people charged in the embassy bombings, four begin their trial in New York, three are awaiting extradition from Britain and 13 remain at large. One man has already pleaded guilty and another - Salim - awaits a separate trial in New York.

May 29, 2001 All four alleged followers of Osama bin Laden are convicted of conspiracy in the U.S. embassy bombings. Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Wadih El-Hage and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh are found guilty of conspiring to kill Americans. The jury deliberated more than 12 days to reach a verdict.

Oct. 18, 2001 Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed - spared the death penalty in June because the jury could not agree on that sentence - receive life without parole sentences. Mohamed Sadeek Odeh and Wadih El-Hage also receive sentences of life in prison without parole.