Alleged mastermind of 1998 US embassy attacks dies days before trial

Abu Anas al-Liby, who was due to stand trial over the Tanzania and Kenya bombings, dies from complications after liver surgery

Abu Anas Al-Liby was due to stand trial on 12 January over the attacks, in which 244 people were killed and more than 5,000 wounded. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A Libyan man accused of masterminding the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has died just days before he was due to stand trial in New York for the crimes.

Abu Anas al-Liby, 50, died on Friday from complications following liver surgery, his wife said.

He had a $5m (£3.3m) bounty on his head and was high on the FBI’s most-wanted list when he was captured by US forces in Tripoli in October 2013.

He and a Saudi businessman Khalid al-Fawwaz were due to stand trial on 12 January over the attacks, in which 244 people were killed and more than 5,000 wounded.

His wife, Um Abdullah, accused the US government of “kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man”, according to Associated Press.

She said that Liby’s experiences had made his illnesses, including hepatitis C, worse and that had contributed to his death. He was also reported to have had advanced liver cancer.

Liby had previously pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges in relation to the 1998 attacks. A third suspect, the Egyptian Adel Abdel Bary, pleaded guilty last year to playing a role in the bombings.

In December 2013, Bernard Kleinman, a lawyer for Liby, said his client was only accused of participating in visual and photographic surveillance of the US embassy in Nairobi in late 1993, and researching potential sites for other attacks with members of al-Qaida in 1994.

Liby is believed to have been an early associate of Osama bin Laden, and is thought to have been granted asylum in Britain in 1995. Scotland Yard arrested him four years later but police were forced to release him for lack of evidence.

When officers later raided his home, they found terrorist training material, dubbed the Manchester manual. Liby, however, had already fled the country.

He was indicted by a New York grand jury in 2000 for the 1998 attacks