Osama bin Laden , closely advised by Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-Zawahiri , in 1988 founded Al-Qaeda ( Arabic : القاعدة , meaning " The Base " ) , an Islamic jihadist movement to replace Western-controlled or dominated Muslim countries with Islamic fundamentalist regimes . In pursuit of that goal , bin Laden issued a 1996 manifesto that vowed violent jihad against U.S. military forces based in Saudi Arabia . On August 7 , 1998 , individuals associated with Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad carried out simultaneous bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa which resulted in 224 deaths . On October 12 , 2000 , Al-Qaeda carried out the USS Cole bombing , a suicide bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS '' Cole '' harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden . The bombing killed seventeen U.S. sailors
bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa
1998 United States embassy bombings
History of terrorism