Yemen says no extradition of USS Cole suspects

USS Cole

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) -- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said his country would not extradite any suspects in the October bombing of a U.S. warship in Aden, which killed 17 American sailors, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Extradition of suspects "is not allowed under our constitution," Saleh told the newspaper in an interview, which the Post said took place earlier this week.

Next month, Yemen plans to try six suspects in the case, in which the USS Cole, a destroyer, was attacked in Aden in an apparent suicide bombing.

Saleh said Yemeni authorities were still looking for a key suspect in the Cole incident.

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"We are looking for the man who gave instructions to the two people who executed the operation. His name is Muhammed Omar al-Harazi," he said, referring to the man whose name as a suspect was revealed in a Yemeni government newspaper earlier this week.

"He's the main suspect who funded the operation and paid for the safe houses in Aden. He's the mastermind but we believe someone else was behind him," Saleh added.

The president would not speculate on whether Saudi exile Osama bin Laden was connected to the Cole attack, although he said "everything is possible."

Bin Laden, whom the United States accuses of masterminding attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, has denied involvement in the Cole bombing.

"We can't confirm that bin Laden is behind it. We are still saying it might be Israel or a regional intelligence agency -- those who are trying to spoil the U.S.-Yemeni relationship. ... Israel is possible, bin Laden as well," he said.

Still, Yemen's Interior Minister Hussein Arab, told Newsweek magazine in an interview released to the news media on Sunday Yemen has uncovered links to bin Laden.

"We think the Cole terrorists have strong links with Afghanistan and we can say, yes, there are links with bin Laden," Hussein Arab told Newsweek.

The October 12 bombing took place amid growing anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East over what Arabs see as U.S. support for Israel in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yemeni officials have said the six suspects include civil servants who allegedly provided other suspects with forged documents. But Saleh denied high-level government officials were connected. "These are weak stories aimed to create trouble with the U.S. side," he said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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