Cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan ( August 1998 ) The August 1998 bombings of Afghanistan and Sudan ( codenamed Operation Infinite Reach by the United States ) were American cruise missile strikes on terrorist bases in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan on August 20 , 1998 . The attack was in retaliation for the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people ( including 12 Americans ) and injured 5 , 000 others . Al - Shifa plant bombing and controversy . The missiles were launched from American warships in the Red Sea . Several hit the Al - Shifa pharmaceutical factory , which the United States claimed was helping Osama bin Laden , the mastermind of the embassy attacks , build chemical weapons . One man was killed and ten were wounded in Sudan by the strike . Then United States National Security Council advisor Richard Clarke stated that intelligence existed linking Osama bin Laden to Al - Shifa ' s current and past operators , namely the Iraqi nerve gas experts and the National Islamic Front in Sudan . The government of Sudan demanded an apology from both the Bill Clinton and George W . Bush administrations ; but none has been given , since U . S . intelligence still believes the plant had ties to chemical weapons . According to testimony by William Cohen , " . . . the U . S . intelligence community obtained physical evidence from outside the al - Shifa facility in Sudan that supported long - standing concerns regarding its potential role in Sudanese chemical weapon efforts that could be exploited by al Qaeda . " Officials later acknowledged , however , that " the evidence that prompted President Clinton to order the missile strike on the Shifa plant was not as solid as first portrayed . " Indeed , officials later said that there was no proof that the plant had been manufacturing or storing nerve gas , as initially suspected by the Americans , or had been linked to Osama bin Laden , who was a resident of Khartoum in the 1990s . " The Al - Shifa factory was Sudan ' s primary source of pharmaceuticals , covering the majority of the Sudanese market . Werner Daum ( Germany ' s ambassador to Sudan 1996 – 2000 ) wrote an article in which he estimated that the attack " probably led to tens of thousands of deaths " of Sudanese civilians . The American Bureau of Intelligence and Research wrote a report in 1999 questioning the attack on the factory , suggesting that the connection to bin Laden was not accurate ; James Risen reported in the " New York Times " : " Now , the analysts renewed their doubts and told Assistant Secretary of State Phyllis Oakley that the C . I . A . ' s evidence on which the attack was based was inadequate . Ms . Oakley asked them to double - check ; perhaps there was some intelligence they had not yet seen . The answer came back quickly : There was no additional evidence . Ms . Oakley called a meeting of key aides and a consensus emerged : Contrary to what the Administration was saying , the case tying Al Shifa to Mr . bin Laden or to chemical weapons was weak . " The Chairman of El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries , who is critical of the Sudanese government , more recently told reporters , " I had inventories of every chemical and records of every employee ' s history . There were no such [ nerve gas ] chemicals being made here . " Sudan has since invited the U . S . to conduct chemical tests at the site for evidence to support its claim that the plant might have been a chemical weapons factory ; so far , the U . S . has refused the invitation to investigate . Nevertheless , the U . S . has refused to officially apologize for the attacks . Attack on camps in Afghanistan . About 75 cruise missiles were fired by the U . S . into the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at four Afghan training camps : The attack was made partly in an attempt to assassinate bin Laden and other leaders . After the attack , the CIA heard that bin Laden had been at Zhawar Kili al - Badr but had left some hours before the missiles hit . The earlier arrest of Mohammed Odeh on August 7 while traveling to meet with Osama , is said to have alerted bin Laden , who canceled the meeting which meant that the camps targeted by the cruise missiles were mainly empty the day of the U . S . strike . According to Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid , 20 Afghans , seven Pakistanis , three Yemenis , two Egyptians , one Saudi and one Turk were killed . Abu Jandal later estimated that only six men had been killed in the strikes . The only confirmed death in the strikes was Egyptian - Canadian Amr Hamed . Osama bin Laden jokingly told militants at the al - Jihad merger that only a few camels and chickens had died . U . S . President Bill Clinton announced the attacks in a TV address , saying the Khost camp was " one of the most active terrorist bases in the world , " adding that " I want the world to understand that our actions today were not aimed against Islam " which he called " a great religion . " The failure of the cruise missiles to eliminate their targets would lead to an acceleration in the American program to develop unmanned combat air vehicle s .