“On November 19, 1995, the eighteenth anniversary of [former Egyptian President] Anwar Sadat’s trip to Jerusalem, [al-Jihad leader Ayman al-] Zawahiri’s men bombed the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Although the bombing was an al-Jihad operation, it would become the prototype for future al-Qaeda attacks, in terms of both the target and the means of destroying it. …Sixteen people died, not counting the two suicide bombers, and sixty were wounded. …Bin Laden had not approved the operation, however; nor was he happy about it. Pakistan had offered the best route into Afghanistan and, until then, had provided sanctuary to many Arab Afghans who had lingered after the war. …Zawahiri also alienated many of his remaining followers, who were alarmed both by the death of innocents and by the use of suicide bombers.”
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Pages 247-248