Yemeni detained in investigation into bombing of the USS Cole

By Ahmed Al-Haj

Associated Press

SAN’A, Yemen – Authorities have detained a Yemeni man in their nearly yearlong investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole, an official close to the Yemeni investigators said Wednesday.

The man was transferred last week to the same San’a prison where eight suspects are being held in the Oct. 12, 2000, bombing, which killed 17 American sailors, the official said. The United States believes Osama bin Laden was behind the attack.

The new detainee was deported in August from a country in the Horn of Africa, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

If the man is named a suspect, it would be the investigation’s first major arrest in months. Most of those being held were arrested shortly after the attack.

Yemeni officials have said the government is ready to begin the trial against the eight suspects. However, the United States has asked Yemen to delay the trial to give its investigators more time to search for those behind the attack.

Also Wednesday, police detained four Yemenis who led a protest of about 150 people against U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan, a security official said.

The strikes are aimed at terrorist camps of bin Laden, who is sheltered by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. Bin Laden is a suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

A relative of the detainees said the four had organized the demonstration without official permission in the town of Hejah, 106 miles north of the capital. Most of the protesters were college students.