FBI director says new leads and information uncovered in Cole bombing probe

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Posted 11:27AM on Monday, January 21, 2002

SAN'A, Yemen - The United States and Yemen have uncovered new leads into the 2000 bomb attack that killed 17 American sailors aboard the USS Cole in Yemen, FBI director Robert Mueller said Monday. "Working as partners, we have uncovered a great deal of important information and many new leads," a statement from the U.S. Embassy quoted Mueller as saying during a brief visit to the Arabian Peninsula nation. Mueller said he came to Yemen to talk with its president about "the significant progress we have made together in the joint investigation into the Cole attack." He said nothing specific about the new leads. Two suicide bombers drew up alongside the destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000, detonating explosives that blew a hole in its hull, killed 17 sailors and wounded 37 others. The United States blames the attack on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. FBI agents and other U.S. investigators probing the Cole bombing left Yemen after the Sept. 11 attacks for reasons the United States has not disclosed. Yemen has been under pressure at home to set a trial date for suspects in the bombing, some of whom have been held as long as 11 months. The United States has reportedly pushed for further investigation before trials begin. In a meeting with President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Aden, Mueller also expressed strong support for Yemen's recent pursuit of militants with suspected links to al-Qaida, the embassy said. Last month, Yemeni forces trained and equipped with U.S. help attacked a tribe believed to be harboring al-Qaida members. At least 34 people, more than half of them soldiers, died in the fighting. Saleh later told an Egyptian newspaper that the offensive turned up no al-Qaida members and asserted that there is no al-Qaida presence in Yemen. However, the U.S. Embassy suspended most consular services, citing security threats, and a Yemeni Foreign Ministry official later said the government had received information from the United States that al-Qaida militants had contemplated attacking the embassy.