ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct.12 - Warship Bombed; 17 Killed.

USS Cole is rocked by a massive explosion, apparently in a highly sophisticated operation by Muslim militants, with 17 servicemen killed and over 35 others wounded, as the ship was pulling into the port of Aden. The blast came from one of several smaller harbour boats helping the Cole dock at a refueling station. Pentagon official say the harbour boat, with at least two men aboard, was loaded with explosives. The blast tore a gaping hope 20 feet-by-40 feet in the side of the Cole - a guided-missile destroyer based in Norfolk, Virginia, which was carrying a crew of about 300. The explosion caused extensive flooding and made the ship list slightly. Subsequently the Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan claimed credit for the attack. But Jaish Mohammed also claimed credit. Both groups have Afghan war veterans among its forces and both are links with Osama Bin Ladin, a millionaire militant who has lost his Saudi nationality and is believed to be living in Afghanistan. On the next day, Oct. 13, a bomb was thrown on the British Embassy in Sanaa but no one was hurt. Yemen is a haven for a number of Islamic militant groups with links to Bin Ladin and their local ally is the radical Islamic theologian Shaikh Abdel Majid Zandani who is a leading member of the Islah Party - a powerful tribal/Islamic coalition which controls a major portion of remote areas where people are armed and government forces cannot reach.