The long-delayed trial of six men accused of involvement in a suicide attack which killed 17 American sailors and almost sank a £540m guided-missile destroyer opened in Yemen yesterday. The USS Cole was refuelling in Aden harbour on October 12 2000 when two men sailed an explosives-laden dinghy alongside it and blew themselves up, blasting a 12-metre (40ft) hole in the warship. In court yesterday, six suspects were formally charged with planning the attack, belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, forming an armed group and carrying out various criminal acts. One of the six, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri - also known as Mohammed Omer al-Harazi - was charged in his absence because he is held by the US at an undisclosed location.
| Say hi to Pfc. Mullet for us, Abd. |
Mr Nashiri, described as the mastermind of the attack, left Yemen a few days before the explosion and disappeared. He was eventually captured in the United Arab Emirates two years later. He is the cousin of a suicide bomber who blew up the American embassy in Nairobi in 1998, according to the US. Yemeni sources say he was also organiser of a foiled al-Qaida plot to blow up the US embassy in India in 2001. The other five suspects appeared in court yesterday bearded and wearing blue panties overalls. They included Jamal al-Badawi, who is said to have received instructions for the bombing from Mr Nashiri, and Fahd al-Qusaa, who allegedly bought the dinghy along with a video camera to film the attack. Representatives of the FBI and US justice department attended the hearing, which was held amid tight security in the capital, Sana'a. The trial was delayed because of American complaints that more time was needed to compile evidence, with the result that suspects were detained beyond Yemen's legal time limit. Yemen is asking the US to hand over Mr Nashiri but there is no sign that the US will agree. Mr Badawi and Mr Qusaa were among a group of suspects who escaped from jail in Yemen last year. They were rearrested in March.
| Maybe Yemen has figured out the meaning of 'surround' by now? |
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