4 U.S. sailors killed in Navy ship blast in Yemen

Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih visits the injured in a hospital

Dozens injured or missing; destroyer severely damaged
October 12, 2000
Web posted at: 11:57 a.m. EDT (1557 GMT)

ADEN, Yemen (CNN) -- At least four Americans were killed, and dozens more were injured or missing Thursday after an explosion at the rear of the Navy destroyer USS Cole, as it sat docked in the Yemeni port of Aden.

Initial accounts suggested the likelihood that the incident was a terrorist attack, but Pentagon and Navy sources said it might have been an accident that occurred as the ship was stopped for refueling.

A senior Pentagon official with access to the latest details of the explosion that severely damaged the ship told CNN, "We have every reason to suspect it was a terrorist attack, there is no reason to suspect it was anything else."

In addition to the sailors who were killed, 36 were injured and as many as a dozen others are missing, according to Pentagon officials.

The FBI is sending agents to the scene of the deadly incident.

Initially, the Pentagon said the Cole was hit from the rear by a small boat packed with explosives at about 12:15 p.m. (5:15 a.m. EDT/9:15 GMT). But later, military officials said the small boat may have been assisting the Cole with its mooring line as it docked.

In either event, details on the cause of the explosion remained under investigation. If it was a terrorist attack, no one has claimed responsibility.

Yemen is located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Red Sea.

The blast tore a large hole in the ship's hull and caused flooding that left the 505-foot-long Cole listing four degrees to its port side.

The destroyer has a crew of about 350.

The explosion was heard all over Aden, and ambulances were seen rushing to the port. The injured, some of them suffering from burns, were taken to hospitals and the Navy was flying a medical team from Bahrain.

The Cole had just arrived in Aden for a scheduled four-hour refueling stop on its way to the Persian Gulf when the blast occurred.

The explosion tore a 20-foot-by-40-foot hole in the port side, according to Lt. Cmdr. Daren Pelkie, spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.

Pelkie said the Navy had received no specific threats prior to the incident. After the incident, all of the ships of the 5th Fleet were ordered out to sea as a security precaution and were placed on a higher state of alert.


Albright, speaking at a news conference Thursday, said she had discussed the situation with Yemen's president

He said flooding aboard the Cole was contained and no fires were reported.

The Cole is a ship of the Burke destroyer class and carries sophisticated Aegis weaponry. Its home port is Norfolk, Virginia. It was en route to the Persian Gulf to join the U.S.-led maritime interception operations in support of U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

The White House said President Clinton, who was in Chappaqua, New York, was notified of the incident at 7:18 a.m. by his national security adviser, Samuel Berger.

The president called Defense Secretary William Cohen, urging him and Berger to find out what happened, said White House spokesman Jake Siewert.


Reno said FBI agents would help in the investigation

Clinton was "obviously horrified" by the incident, Siewert said. "He wants to know what happened."

Clinton is due to return to Washington later in the day.

Because the Cole had just arrived in Aden and was due to remain there for only a short time, U.S. officials said they believed the small boat's mission was a planned act of terrorism. The ship had gone through the Suez Canal on Monday and sailed down the Red Sea before arriving in Aden on the Gulf of Aden, Pelkie said.

U.S. Navy ships commonly stop in Aden for refueling. The region has been swept in recent weeks by demonstrations, some of them violent and often with an anti-U.S. tone, sparked by Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held daily in Yemen.


File photo of the USS Cole

FBI sending agents to scene
In Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke by telephone with Ali Abdallah Salih, the president of Yemen. He expressed condolences and visited the injured at a hospital, Albright said.

She cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that the explosion was caused by a terrorist attack. But if it was, "we will hold those who committed it accountable and take appropriate steps."

At the Justice Department, Attorney General Janet Reno declined to comment on a possible terrorist link.

Asked if consideration is being given to putting on a worldwide terrorist alert at U.S. installations, she said, "That is an issue that is being addressed."

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.