By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - A Tanzanian al Qaeda suspect confessed and apologized to the United States for supplying equipment used in the 1998 bombing of a U.S. embassy in Africa, according to a transcript released on Friday of a hearing at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani said he purchased supplies but did not know they would be used to attack the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He also denied membership in al Qaeda.

"It was without my knowledge what they were doing but I helped them," Ghailani said, speaking English. "So I apologize to the United States government for what I did."

"I'm sorry for what happened to those families who lost, who lost their friends and their beloved ones," he said, according to the transcript released by the Pentagon.

U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, Kenya, were bombed on Aug. 7 1998. The attack in Kenya killed 213 people. The Tanzania bombing killed 11 and wounded at least 85.

Another al Qaeda suspect held at the Guantanamo Bay facility, Walid bin Attash, confessed to providing supplies and other support from Pakistan for the Kenya bombing, according to a transcript of his hearing released by the Pentagon on March 19.

Both Attash, also known as Khallad, and Ghailani are among 14 suspects transferred to the Guantanamo detention center in Cuba from secret CIA prisons last year.

U.S. Officials have designated the 14 as "high-value" suspects because their capture was believed to have a significant effect on al Qaeda operations, and because they are believed capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

The White House said the Guantanamo prison will likely remain open for the rest of President George W. Bush's term because it will take time to conduct the legal proceedings of the detainees there.

Bush has said he would like to see the facility closed. But the United States has declared its intention to try 60 to 80 of the 385 foreign captives held at Guantanamo, and White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was "highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases" before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

TNT AND CELL PHONE

Ghailani, in the unclassified portion of his hearing, said he bought the TNT used in the Tanzania bombing and a cell phone used by another person involved in the attack. He said he was present when a third person bought a truck used in the attack.

He said he did not know how the attack planners intended to use the TNT, and that he was told it was for diamond mining in Somalia.

Ghailani denied building the bomb or scouting the U.S. embassy.

After the embassy bombings, Ghailani went to an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. He said he was not a member of al Qaeda but worked for the group, providing members with false documents, including passports.

He said he remained in Afghanistan until after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he fled to Pakistan, where he was captured in 2004.

Ghailani spoke on his own and through his personal representative at the hearing, known as a combatant status review tribunal. The proceedings are meant to determine whether detainees should be classified as "enemy combatants."

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