Oct 28, 2001

Report: Yemeni Suspect in Bombing of U.S Ship Arrested in Pakistan

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pakistani authorities have arrested and turned over to American custody a Yemeni microbiology student wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole, The Washington Post reported from Karachi.

Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, 27, is an active member of the al-Qaida network run by Osama bin Laden, the alleged organizer of the Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the newspaper said in Sunday editions.

Mohammed was secretly turned over to U.S. authorities - bypassing normal extradition and deportation proceedings - as part of a broad investigation of Arab students suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, the Post said, quoting unidentified Pakistan officials.

U.S. officials in Pakistan declined comment, as did a senior FBI official in Washington, it said.

Mohammed would be the first person arrested outside Yemen for the October 2000 attack on the Cole as it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 injured when suicide bombers brought a boat alongside the warship and detonated explosives.

Eight suspects were arrested in Yemen and are awaiting trial.

AP-ES-10-28-01 0028EDT

This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGACBNKCCTC.html

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2001