SANAA, 21 December 2002 — Yemeni security forces fought a gunbattle yesterday with suspected members of Al-Qaeda holed up in a building in the southern port of Al-Mukalla, a security official said.
The Al-Qaeda suspects are believed to have taken part in the Oct. 6 attack on the French ship Limburg, which killed a member of the oil tanker’s crew.
Police approached the three-story residential building after being tipped off that Al-Qaeda members lived there, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Security forces cordoned off the building and set up checkpoints in the city, 550 km southeast of Sanaa, the official said.
Witnesses said the militants, hiding out in the building, threw a grenade at police injuring three people, probably police officers. A medical source at Al-Mukalla’s Ibn Sina hospital said three men had been admitted with wounds from the shootout, but refused to identify the casualties.
More than 20 suspects have been arrested for their possible involvement in the Oct. 6 Limburg bombing which crippled the tanker and killed a Bulgarian sailor off Al-Mukalla in the Hadramout province.
The official September 26 newspaper said on Thursday French investigators had returned to Yemen to examine progress in the investigation and the conclusions reached by security services. A Yemeni government official said yesterday that the authorities were expected to press charges against 10 people for the attack.
The attack on the Limburg was carried out by a boat laden with explosives that was detonated next to the tanker’s hull. It resulted in about 90,000 barrels of oil being discharged into the Gulf of Aden.
A similar attack on the destroyer USS Cole, in which 17 US sailors were killed, was also blamed on Al-Qaeda. (Agencies)
