Investigators board bombed warship, suspects questioned

1:00 PM

ADEN - Investigators are combing wreckage aboard the USS Cole trying to piece together clues about an apparent suicide bombing of the destroyer that killed 17 sailors.

A Yemeni official meanwhile said authorities had rounded up dozens of people for questioning in connection with the blast.

The US military said close to 100 investigators, salvage experts, engineers and support personnel were on site in the Yemeni port of Aden to recover the bodies of 10 sailors still missing, patch a hole in the side of the ship and search for clues.

Officials said a memorial service would be held aboard the ship for the victims. It had been postponed from Sunday morning after a "minor setback" when the ship started taking small amounts of water during repairs.

"Any time you have water coming into a ship, it is a serious situation," said Rear-Admiral Mark Fitzgerald. "The ship was not in danger of sinking."

Security has been stepped up in parts of the city including the vicinity of the Cole and at the hotel where many US officials are staying.

US Ambassador Barbara Bodine told reporters in Aden: "The United States government is very pleased with the cooperation we have been receiving from the government of Yemen."

Asked about claims of responsibility for the attack, she said: "We are in a very preliminary stage...It is too much too early to comment."

She also refused to comment on media reports that the United States was trying to get hold of videos from four Yemeni security cameras at the port.

US Navy officials say a small boat helping to moor the Cole in Aden on Thursday had been laden with explosives in advance and blew up alongside the ship, one of the world's most sophisticated guided missile destroyers.

Witnesses described two men aboard the boat standing to attention just before it exploded.

A Yemeni official told Reuters "authorities have already arrested dozens of suspects believed to be linked to the (USS Cole) incident."

He said the suspects included some oil and port employees and workers in Aden. He gave no further details.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the explosion was "not a deliberate act." But a senior US official said on Sunday that Yemen now accepted that it was an attack.

Earlier, at a meeting with Ambassador Bodine, Saleh said Yemen was keen to fully cooperate with the United States "to reveal the details of this regrettable incident," indicating that Yemen now believes it was an attack.

The official news agency Saba said Saleh also stressed that Yemen was committed to fighting terrorism.

The bodies of five sailors arrived at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday and the injured have been evacuated from Aden to air bases in Germany.

In Washington, defense officials said on Saturday that a source in the Middle East had warned Washington of a possible attack on a ship before Thursday's attack, but that the warning was too vague to raise an immediate alarm.

Two little-known Muslim groups have claimed responsibility.

One group under investigation has previously been linked to the kidnapping of tourists in Yemen, one official said.

- REUTERS

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