World

Clinton Sends In The Marines

August 18, 1998 / 8:29 PM EDT / AP

Marines and Navy commandos sent here for a NATO exercise were rushed to the U.S. diplomatic compound after American officials learned of a possible terror attack similar to the embassy bombings that killed 257 people in East Africa.

Marine Capt. Mark Oswell said 200 Marines and Navy SEAL commandos were sent Sunday along with Albanian police to secure the Rilindja Ridge housing complex, home to American diplomats in Tirana.

Monday, 150 of the Marines then joined about 1,500 troops from 13 other countries in a five-day exercise designed to show NATO's commitment to preventing the violence in neighboring Kosovo from spilling over into the rest of the southern Balkans.

Ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo are fighting for independence from Serbia, the main republic in Yugoslavia. The NATO exercise was meant to show Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that military intervention was an option if a peaceful settlement to the Kosovo crisis could not be found.

But the scare at the diplomatic compound only served to underscore the complexity of stabilizing this volatile region.

In a letter Tuesday to Congress, President Clinton said U.S. authorities had received "credible information of a possible attack" against the Tirana embassy "similar to the attacks against our missions" in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Those two attacks Aug. 7 killed 257 people and wounded more than 5,500.

Clinton did not elaborate on the threat. The Rilindja complex includes a series of bungalows for American diplomats. Embassy staff are working in the compound while a new embassy with enhanced security is being built.

Clinton said U.S. military forces will continue to augment security at Rilindja Ridge as long as necessary.

On Friday, the State Department ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel and family members from Tirana, citing a possible terror attack. The move followed press reports about the possible presence in Albania of Islamic extremists.

One day before the Africa bombings, an Arabic language newspaper in London, al-Hayat, published a letter from the "International Islamic Front for Jihad" vowing revenge against the United States for the arrests of several of its members in Albania.