Limburg investigators agreeing more that . . . It’s terrorism [Archives:2002/42/Front Page]

French and American investigators into the explosion of the French tanker Limburg agree the blast was probably terrorism.
The blast killed one crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf Of Aden.
“It’s become clear it’s an act of terrorism,” a U.S. intelligence official in Washington said Thursday on the condition of anonymity.
“The initial results of the inquiry carried out by French, Yemeni and American investigators suggest the explosion of October 6 on board the French oil tanker, the Limburg, was due to an attack,” a statement of the French Foreign Ministry echoed.
The investigators said that metal and plastic pieces along with remains of TNT explosive material was found on the deck suggesting that the ship was rammed by a smaller craft.
The Limburg was brought into Mina al-Dabah port in Al Mukalla by three tug boats.
American officials said the blast was an act of terrorism most likely carried out by people with links to al-Qaida.
Crew saw small boat
This claim is also supported by the tanker’s owner, Euronav SA, who quoted crew members as saying the blast occurred shortly after a small boat was seen speeding toward the tanker as it waited for a tug to take it to Mina al-Dabah near Mukalla, about 500 miles from Sana’a.
French investigator Jean-Francois Perrouty told French television France 3 on Thursday that debris found on the deck of the tanker did not come from the tanker.
“We found on the Limburg deck some parts mainly made of plastic and of a mixed glass-resin material used for constructing yachts and, in Yemen, fishing boats. We found that on the tanker deck along with some metal debris,” he said.
This contradicts suggestions of Yemen’s Minister of Sea Transport Saeed Yafaei that the parts might have come from the tanker’s own rescue boat.
“Investigators have indeed found fiberglass parts, but they might be from the tanker’s rescue boat that was damaged in the accident. The parts will be sent to laboratories to be tested and determine whether it belonged to the damaged boat,” said Yafaei, who also is the chief of the Yemeni team investigating the Limburg blast.
He made the comment Thursday to Yemen’s official news agency Saba.
Earlier, a U.S. defense official said several factors pointed to a terrorist attack: the hole in the ship is at sea level, which is consistent with it being struck by a boat or weapon, and the vessel is relatively new, making it unlikely that a malfunction caused the blast.
U.S. intelligence also picked up indications in recent weeks that terrorist groups remain interested in targeting maritime shipping, the defense official said.
Speculation that the incident was an act of terrorism arose shortly after the explosion, which spilled oil along 72 kilometers of coastline. The Limburg’s captain later told The Associated Press a crew member saw a fishing boat approach the tanker shortly before the blast.
Contradictory reports
At first, Yemen, which has been eager to emphasize its commitment to the U.S.-led war on terrorism, sought to dismiss reports that the blast was deliberate. Those statements were reported in the local Yemeni press during last week. “We were quite confident that when our officials say something, they mean it. So we took the official statements saying that the cause of the attack was an accident for granted,” a Yemeni journalist told YT.
But a Yemeni government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation so far has yielded contradictory information and the blast may in fact have been an act of terrorism.
The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Thursday that it received a statement from a militant Muslim group claiming it attacked the ship. The paper said the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army claimed it carried out the explosion to avenge the execution of one of its leaders for the 1998 kidnapping of 16 Western tourists.
The Aden-Abyan Islamic Army was formed by Yemeni and other Arab fighters who, like bin Laden, helped Afghans oust Soviet invaders with U.S. help in the 1980s.
A Yemeni official, Abdul Kader Hilal, questioned the reported Aden-Abyan Islamic Army claim, saying the group does not have the means to carry out such an operation. But he said one of the group’s members was among those detained for questioning.
Pollution catastrophe
“If there is anyone who has been hurt most of this, then it is us.” said a Yemeni fisherman near the coast of Mina al-Dabah port. “The sea is our only source of income, and now look at what happened to it! How can we make ends meet any more amidst so harsh economic conditions.” he said.
The pollution issue has become the major concern of the Yemeni officials in the area. “Yemen is facing an environmental disaster, its beaches having been hit by tonnes of crude oil from the French-flagged supertanker Limburg which burned in the Gulf of Aden” an official said.
It is estimated that the total area polluted with crude oil spilled from Limburg amounted to 500 square kilometres, some 15cm deep, according to a press release distributed by the crisis cell, formed to follow up the incident.
The press statement also revealed that “Plans are being prepared by the crisis cell in cooperation with the local authorities and citizens to contain this problem.”
France more alert
On the other hand, France had revealed plans to step up its security measures for French citizens in the Middle East and is considering providing military escorts for French ships in the Indian Ocean, government spokesmen said on Friday.
The Foreign and Defence Ministries announced the measures after Paris announced on Thursday evening that it seemed likely the explosion on the French-flagged supertanker Limburg off the Yemen coast on Sunday was an attack.
“We are going to increase our level of protection for French residents in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau told a joint briefing with his Defence Ministry counterpart Jean-Francois Bureau.
Embassies in the region were to review and update existing security plans, he said.
Bureau said a multinational force in the Indian Ocean consisting of eight warships – including two French vessels – under German command could start to escort merchant ships as it did in 1987 and 1988.
But he stressed no decision had been made on this yet.
“Escorts are being considered but they will be neither permanent nor constant,” Bureau said. Any escorts could only operate in international waters, he added.

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