Posted on 10/11/2002 11:15:13 AM PDT by areafiftyone
AL MUKALLA, Yemen (AP) - France said Friday it would not bow to terrorism and demanded that Yemen to catch and punish those responsible for an attack on the oil tanker Limburg. "France will not be intimidated," said Catherine Colonna, the spokeswoman for French President Jacques Chirac. Also Friday, the French defense minister said investigators found traces of TNT on the French-owned tanker that exploded and burned Sunday, leaking 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. "What we have received overnight indicates that this was an attack, since parts of a small boat and traces of TNT were found inside the tanker," said Michele Alliot-Marie. She also said that a claim of responsibility for the attack reportedly sent by a militant Muslim group to a pan-Arab newspaper "gives the impression that an American ship was originally targeted." The ship was towed into a northeastern Yemen port Friday, after investigators said metal and plastic pieces found on the deck suggested the ship was rammed by a smaller craft. American officials said Sunday's blast was an act of terrorism most likely carried out by people with links to al-Qaida, the terror network led by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and blamed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. "It's become clear it's an act of terrorism," a U.S. intelligence official in Washington said Thursday on the condition of anonymity. Al-Qaida would consider an oil tanker a Western economic target, the official said. Oil markets appeared undisturbed Thursday by evidence the explosion was an attack, analysts said. The attack bears a number of similarities to the suicide boat strike that killed 17 sailors on the USS Cole (news - web sites) in October 2000, the U.S. official said. French investigator Jean-Francois Perrouty told French television channel France 3 on Thursday that debris found on the deck of the tanker did not come from the tanker. "We found on the Limburg deck some parts mainly made of plastic and of a mixed glass-resin material used for constructing yachts and, in Yemen, fishing boats. We found that on the tanker deck along with some metal debris," he said. Yemen's minister of sea transport, though, said the parts might have come from the tanker's own life boat. "Investigators have indeed found fiberglass parts but they might be from the tanker's rescue boat that was damaged in the accident," Minister of Sea Transport Saeed Yafaei said Thursday, according to the official Yemen news agency Saba. Earlier, a U.S. defense official said several factors pointed to a terrorist attack: the hole in the ship is at sea level and the vessel is relatively new, making it unlikely that a malfunction caused the blast. U.S. intelligence also picked up indications in recent weeks that terrorist groups remain interested in targeting maritime shipping, the defense official said. Speculation that the incident was an act of terrorism arose shortly after the explosion, which spilled oil along 45 miles of coastline. The Limburg's captain later told The Associated Press a crew member saw a fishing boat approach the tanker shortly before the blast. At first, Yemen, which has been eager to emphasize its commitment to the U.S.-led war on terrorism, sought to dismiss reports that the blast was deliberate. But a Yemeni government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation so far has yielded contradictory information and the blast may have been an act of terrorism. The pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Thursday it received a statement from a militant Muslim group claiming it attacked the ship. The paper said the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army said it was seeking to avenge the execution of one of its leaders for the 1998 kidnapping of 16 Western tourists. The newspaper quoted the group as saying it would have preferred to hit a U.S. frigate, "but then, no problem because they are all infidels." Lt. Chris Davis of the Fifth Fleet would not say if an American frigate was in the area at the time. Citing security precautions, he refused to disclose specific positions, but said, "there are U.S. warship throughout the region." The militant group added the ship was on its way to supply fuel for U.S. warships in the region. But the Malaysian state company Petronas, which had chartered the Limburg, has said it was to carry crude oil to Malaysia for refining. The Aden-Abyan Islamic Army was formed by Yemeni and other Arab fighters who, like bin Laden, helped Afghans oust Soviet invaders with U.S. help in the 1980s. A Yemeni official, Abdul Kader Hilal, questioned the reported Aden-Abyan Islamic Army claim, saying the group does not have the means to carry out such an operation. U.S. counterterrorism officials also are skeptical of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army's claim of responsibility, a U.S. intelligence official said in Washington, although U.S. officials believe the group has al-Qaida ties. In Paris, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said it was too soon to pin the attack on any one group. "We don't have for the moment material evidence linking the perpetrators of this attack to any organization," said Francois Rivasseau. The Defense Ministry is also considering military escorts for French commercial ships, said ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau.
BWWWWWAAAAAAA. Hahahahahahahahah.
Great letter to the "frog people".
Francistan, here we come!
;-)
I don't know, I think France should examine its history and foreign policy and try to find out what it's done to cause terrorist to feel the way they do. Yeah, that's the ticket ...
"Instead"...she continued..."we will immediately and unconditionally surrender. Please don't hurt us."
So therefore we surrender ..................
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