MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - The first two people to be detained for questioning over the Mombasa attacks on Israelis had used U.S. passports to check into a hotel, the manager of the hotel where they stayed said Friday.

"They had American passports and they said they were from Florida," Ben Wafula, general manager of Le Soleil Beach Club, told Reuters in Mombasa.

He said the man and the woman, who looked in their 20s, had checked in on Nov. 26 and had tried to check out Thursday morning about two hours after the suicide bombing of the Paradise Hotel, some three miles away.

He said the woman was European, blond and dressed in brown trousers with a matching top. The man had on baggy white trousers, a white shirt worn outside the trousers, and dark sunglasses. Wafula said the black-haired man looked "Italian or Spanish."

Wafula said they were held after staff at the hotel made a routine call to police, who had asked all hotels in the area to notify them of any checkouts following the blast, he said.

"We noticed that they (the man and woman) made a call to Spain from the switchboard. The call was made from the switchboard because of a power blackout after the bomb, which affected the phones in the rooms," Wafula said.

"They spoke in English, and after making their call wanted to clear their bills. Then the police came and as they were about to drive out of the main gate they were stopped and arrested by police."

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2002