Clinton: Embassy bomber's killing is 'a just end'

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first U.S. official to publicly confirm the death of the al-Qaida operative behind the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

A Somali minister earlier Saturday said officials in that country have determined that a man killed by security forces on Tuesday was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

Now Clinton says in a statement while in Tanzania that his death is a "significant blow to al-Qaida, its extremist allies and its operations in East Africa."

She says it's "a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents" from the embassy bombings.

The blasts killed 224 people. Most were Kenyans. Twelve Americans also died.The al-Qaida operative behind the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania has been killed, a Somali official said Saturday.

Mohamed had a $5 million bounty on his head for allegedly planning the Aug. 7, 1998, embassy bombings. The blasts killed 224 people in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania combined. Most of the dead were Kenyans. Twelve Americans also died.

Members of Somalia's most dangerous militant group, al-Shabab, have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab's members include veterans of the Iraq and Pakistan conflicts.

Hundreds of foreign fighters are swelling the ranks of al-Shabab militants who are trying in vain to topple the country's weak U.N.-backed government.

Somalia has been mired in violence since 1991, when the last central government collapsed.