Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Frank Pembleton]

TANKER EXPLOSION POINTS TO TERRORISM

Citing unnamed sources, CNN is reporting that U.S. officials now
believe the explosion that disabled a French-owned oil tanker off the coast of Yemen Sunday was an act of terrorism. According to CNN, investigators have recovered residue of TNT and parts from a boat engine at the point of the explosion of the hull of the tanker Limburg.

About 90,000 barrels of oil either burned or leaked from the tanker, and oil covers about 45 miles of Yemen's northeastern coastline. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said today about the explosion: "I don't think we are able to say one way or another whether it was an act of terror."

Boucher said any information would come from Yemeni and French
investigators, but added that "terrorism has not been ruled out." Also Thursday, an Arab newspaper reported that it received a statement from a fundamentalist group claiming responsibility for the explosion.

More on this story Friday on ENL.
10/10/2002 06:29 PM EDT
http://www.energynewslive.com