The MANPADS Man

Abdul Malik, long on the run for his involvement in the November 2002 bombing of the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa and the attempted simultaneous downing of an Israeli airliner with two shoulder fired missiles, has been captured. He was apprehended in East Africa earlier this year and now resides at Camp Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Malik, 35, a Kenyan national was arrested in February while on a family visit at the port city of Mombasa. He was then blindfolded and flown to Nairobi where he was held at several police stations. Malik has joined 14 other top terror operatives recently transferred from secret overseas CIA detention facilities into Guantanamo. The Kenya Hotel blast killed 13 but all 271 Israelis on board the Arkia 757-300 airliner escaped harm when the altitude-limited SA-7 training missiles failed to arm. Since the mid 1970's at least 45 aircraft have been downed by shoulder-fired missiles with 31 of them going down.