Investigators Look for Clues in Yemen

Oct. 13, 2000 -- U.S. investigators are in the Middle Eastern port city of Aden, where an attack on a Navy destroyer left seven dead, 10 others missing and presumed dead and 38 injured.

The Navy released the names of the confirmed and presumed dead today while the grim task of searching the USS Cole for the 10 missing sailors continued. (See related story, right.)

A military flight carrying remains of five of the dead was met today by an Air Force honor guard at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. A base spokesman said the bodies would be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Saturday.

U.S. experts are fanning out across the Yemeni port city of Aden to investigate the blast, which Pentagon officials are calling a well-planned suicide mission and the worst terrorist attack in Navy history.

The Cole has been listing in the wake of Thursday’s explosion —believed to be the same size as the blast of the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City — which left a 30-by-40-foot hole in the destroyer’s port side hull. But Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said the ship was now stable, and some power and communications capability restored.

In light of the blast, which U.S. officials have called a terrorist attack, and the violence between Palestinians and Israelis, many U.S. embassies were closed in the Middle East and Africa, or closing their public operations through at least the weekend.

“We have also sent messages to embassiesworldwide to be careful, to be vigilant and, in all thesesituations, to keep in very close touch with the Americancommunities,” said State Department spokesman Richart Boucher.

Cole Crew Tired, Distraught

Within days, Bacon said, Navy officials could know when and how the Cole could be moved to a different facility for repairs (see related story).

Two other U.S. Navy ships — USS Hawes and USS Donald Cook — have arrived in Aden to assist the Cole, Bacon told reporters at a Pentagon briefing today.

“This is significant because, obviously, the crew left on the USSCole is tired and distraught,” he said. “And so the crews of the new ships can help do some of the work that’s required to keep the ship afloat andto deal with the damage to the hull.”

The Navy is trying to restore phone service to the Cole so sailors manning the ship can call home. Private veterans groups are also trying to provide the crew on board and wounded sailors in Germany with phone cards.

Along with the ships, a phalanx of U.S. investigators and medical personnel has been on the ground in Yemen looking for clues and assisting the wounded. Navy doctors, nurses, medical technicians and criminal investigators arrived on Thursday.

The 50-member Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team has also arrived, along with a 50-member investigative team of State Department, FBI and Justice Department personnel. More than 100 additional FBI agents were on the way, Bacon said.

Mourning the Victims

The powerful explosion that rocked the Cole on Thursday apparently forced the ceiling of the engine room up, trapping a number of sailors against the ceiling of the level above, complicating the search for the missing.

Pentagon officials believe the blast was caused by high-energy explosives.

“There is significant damage in the immediate area inside that hole that’s in the side of the ship and they are working through the wreckage,” Adm. Vern Clark, U.S. chief of naval operations, told ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America.

At Ramstein Air Base, a light rain fell as the honor guard silently transferred the U.S. flag-draped caskets of five dead sailors into separate waiting hearses. Flags at the base flew at half-staff while sailors in dress blues watched the ceremony on the tarmac.

A transport plane carrying 28 walking wounded arrived atRhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt early Saturday morning,spokeswoman Lt. Col. Felicia Tavares said. The injured were beingtaken by bus to Landstuhl, about 60 miles southwest, for evaluationand treatment. A second plane carrying more seriously injured sailors evacuatedto the east African country of Djibouti also was to fly to a U.S.military facility in Europe later Saturday morning, although thedestination was uncertain, Tavares said.

A memorial service for the victims will take place on Wednesday at the Cole’s home base in Norfolk, Va., with President Clinton in attendance.

A death toll of 17 would be the highest for a terrorist attackon the American military since the bombing of the Khobar Towershousing complex in Saudi Arabia in 1996, which killed 19 Air Forcetroops.

On High Alert

The destroyer was on a refueling stop in Aden on Thursday while sailing from the Red Sea to Bahrain when theattack occurred.

U.S. officials said the explosion took place after a 20-foot boat assisting in the refueling of the Cole pulled alongside the destroyer, which was carrying about 350 crew members.

Two individuals on board the small boat were helping to gather up the mooring lines of the Cole, officials said. The individuals took one line out to an anchor buoy and were coming back for a second line when the explosion rocked the destroyer around 12:15 local time, or 5:15 a.m. ET.

The first report of the attack came from a U.S. Army major who had gone out to the destroyer as part of a welcoming party in Aden. He used a cell phone to tell the local U.S. Embassy about the explosion.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Pentagon ordered an increased alert level for all U.S. forces around the world, including those in the United States.

The State Department has also warned that U.S. citizens should avoid travel to Yemen and urged all U.S. citizens abroad to “maintain a high level of vigilance.”

The Navy has ordered all other ships now in the Middle East put out to sea. President Clinton has called the attack a “despicable and cowardly act.”

Bin Laden Link?

Investigators are trying to figure out who would have had the infrastructure, people, equipment, money and operational logistics to pull off such an attack with speed and efficiency.

The alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, terrorist groups in Iran and the Islamic Army of Aden are among the top suspects, Pentagon officials said.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said a group with a documented history of “terrorist” activities, possibly linked to Saudi dissident bin Laden, said it had carried out theattack. He did not further identify the group.

Although U.S. intelligence sources have no specific information bin Laden is responsible, they have told ABCNEWS he could be a suspect because his is one of the few groups capable of such an attack.

The Cole’s refueling stop was only scheduled to last between four and six hours and was not well-publicized. Clark said the Cole had notified local authorities 10 to 12 daysearlier that it would dock in Yemen.

Bin Laden is said to have strong ties to Yemen, as his father came from that country.

Intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS that six days ago, the United States received information that bin Laden signaled one of his hit squads to “move out,” but there were no details on where it was headed.

Asked today about the possible bin Laden link, Pentagon spokesman Bacon said it was premature to comment on that scenario. “In due time, the FBI will be able to report on its findings. But it’s obviously way too early for any definitive report right now,” he said.

The Navy has begun a review of all refueling security procedures and opened a standard investigation into the Cole incident. “Security is sort of like health,” Bacon said at today’s briefing. “You can always be healthier.You can always be more secure. No matter how secure you are, you can be more secure.”

ABCNEWS’ Barbara Starr and John McWethy at the Pentagon, ABCNEWS correspondent John Miller, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.