Obama lays wreath at US embassy bombing memorial

US President Barack Obama on Saturday laid a wreath at the Kenyan capital`s Memorial Park in memory of those killed in the 1998 embassy bombing.

Nairobi: US President Barack Obama on Saturday laid a wreath at the Kenyan capital`s Memorial Park in memory of those killed in the 1998 embassy bombing.

He placed the wreath on a holder in front of a wall engraved with the names of the dead and stood for a moment in silence.

Around a dozen survivors and National Security Advisor Susan Rice also attended.

The scene was quiet except for the sound of a fountain just behind Obama and the distant sound of an assembled crowd of well wishers who were kept back by police.

The US missions in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were hit by near simultaneous car bombings on August 7, 1998.

The twin bombings, claimed by Al-Qaeda, killed a total of 224 people and injured some 5,000 -- almost all of them Kenyans and Tanzanians.

Obama is currently making his first visit to Kenya, his father`s birthplace, since becoming President. 

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