Investigators put together evidence from rubble

NAIROBI -- Investigators yesterday began to piece together evidence from last week's US embassy bombings, with a Kenyan guard's eyewitness account providing possibly important clues and 14 arrests in Tanzania.

Twin terrorist bombings here and in Tanzania have claimed at least 230 lives and injured over 5000, and the death toll is still rising.

At the wreckage of the Dar es Salaam embassy, a dozen FBI agents, some wearing blue caps with FBI on the visors, swept and raked Laibon Road in front of the embassy building, collecting and sifting through debris in their search for evidence.

Investigators could be seen collecting metallic debris from burnt cars and other objects and taking them to a compound in the damaged railway headquarters where explosives experts labelled or applied chemicals to them.

Captain Rhyl Jones, garrison engineer of the British Army in Kenya, who has surveyed the wreckage, estimated the bomb could have contained up to 250 kg of explosives, depending on what type was used.

"My opinion is that it was definitely a commercial explosive. This wasn't a homemade device," said Capt Jones, who has investigated bombings by the IRA in Britain.

The rescue efforts -- haphazard at first -- may have destroyed evidence at the two bomb sites, but US officials said it was inevitable as victims came first.

The FBI says finding out what kind of explosives were used and how would be critical to the investigation.

So would an informant, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday offered a R13million reward for information leading to the capture of the "cowards that committed this act".

Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers continued to dig for a woman named Rose.