Experts examine wreckage of U.S. ship

ADEN, OCT. 15. U.S. investigators sifted through the wreckage of the USS Cole today to piece together clues about the apparent suicide bombing of the destroyer that killed 17 sailors, U.S. officials said.

They said that close to 100 investigators, salvage experts, engineers and support teams were now on site in the southern Yemeni port of Aden to recover the the bodies of 10 sailors still missing, patch a big hole in the side of the ship and search for clues.

``Speciality teams have been coming over for salvaging the boat and personnel,'' said a U.S. military official. ``The vast majority of these people are already here. Regarding the investigation, it is proceeding with the cooperation of the Government of Yemen.''

He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would make further announcements later. He added that 100 personnel had arrived in Yemen from the foreign emergency support team, a marine security platoon and the FBI. U.S. Navy officials say a small boat helping to moor the Cole in the port of Aden 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 the two men aboard the boat standing to attention just before it exploded on Thursday. Yemen maintains that the explosion was ``not a deliberate act''.

The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, notified Congressional leaders on Saturday that he had dispatched nearly 100 security personnel to Aden to provide medical treatment to the injured and increase security.

He said two U.S. Navy surface combatant vessels were operating in or near Yemeni territorial waters to provide communications and other support and that additional forces may be deployed to the area if needed.

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

Pentagon officials and security experts said the suicide attack at Aden was well planned, using high explosives to blast a gaping hole in the ship.

Two little-known Muslim groups have said they attacked the destroyer. One group under investigation has previously been linked to the kidnapping of tourists and the bombing of a hotel in Aden, one official said.

The U.S. Navy said on Friday there was extensive damage below the water line but the Defence department spokesman, Mr. Ken Bacon, told reporters that the ship keel was essentially intact and could be repaired.

A team of British forensic experts flew to the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Saturday to investigate a separate explosion at the British embassy on Friday, embassy officials said.

Yemen tightened security around western missions after Friday's explosion at the embassy in Sanaa, which followed a day of violence between Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza. No one was hurt in the explosion.

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, said a bomb was thrown over the wall of the embassy, but Yemeni officials said the blast was due to a malfunctioning power generator.

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Section  : International
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