The two -- identified as Mohammed Sadiq Odeh and Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-Owhali -- were named in a four-count indictment in the August 7 bombings in which 258 people died. The indictment accuses the two men of belonging to terrorist group Al Quada and conspiring to commit acts of international terrorism from 1994 to 1998.

The men were arrested late last month in Nairobi by Kenyan police, and brought to the United States. They were not present in court on Monday.

The indictment says al Owhali, a Yemeni national, travelled in late July from Lahore, Pakistan, to Nairobi and reconnoitered the US embassy there on August 4, police said.

Some 247 people including 12 Americans died in the Nairobi bombing. Eleven people died in the bombing of the US embassy in Tanzania. If convicted both men face life in prison withoutpossibility of parole.