6 detained in USS Cole bombing

Suspects say they have never met but communicated through a third party

ADEN, Yemen (AP) - In one portrait emerging from Yemen, the plotters who attacked a U.S. warship in the port of Aden came from across the region, inspired by hatred, hardened by war and determined enough to try again and again until they were able to strike a mighty target.

Yemeni sources close to the investigation of the Oct. 12 bombing say authorities have detained six Yemeni men they believe were key accomplices. Scores of people have been held so far, but the sources said these six are the first described as central players - including a main plotter.

The sources, who spoke late last week on condition they not be named, said no charges would be filed until the investigation was complete. Yemen's Interior Minister Mohammed Hussein Arab told 26 September, a state-run weekly newspaper, that charges would be referred to the judiciary "in the next few weeks."

The article, which ran in last week's edition, quoted the minister as saying 'several key suspects' had been arrested. It wasn't clear if those were the six referred to by the AP's sources.

The sources said the main accomplice was in charge of the operation in Yemen and coordinated between different cells involved in the attack. He reportedly told Yemeni investigators he received his orders from a man in the United Arab Emirates described as an Arab veteran of the U.S.-backed guerrilla war to drive Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

Quoting Prime Minister Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the two men who carried out the suicide bombing have been identified as Yemeni veterans of the Afghan war.

But according to the AP's sources, the man believed to be a main plotter of the Aden bombing said one of the suicide bombers may have been from Saudi Arabia.

The sources also said two small American government planes left Aden for the United States Wednesday and Thursday carrying documents related to the case. Details about the documents were not known.

After months of careful planning, two suicide bombers brought a small boat laden with explosives alongside the USS Cole and detonated it. The explosion killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured 39.

The main accomplice reportedly told investigators he never met either of the two men and communicated with them through a third party. The plotters reportedly worked in cells of two or three people, and many suspects did not know each other.

Ed Badolato, a former U.S. government anti-terrorism official, said the plotters were organized in cell structures that point to at least three militant Islamic groups: Egypt's al-Gamaa al-Islamiya; Afghan war veterans linked to America's No. 1 terror suspect, Osama bin Laden; or homegrown Yemeni groups.

Both the Egyptian group, which aims to overthrow its country's secular government, and bin Laden's followers have historically had strong ties to Yemen, where they have support among Yemenis able to provide them fake travel and identification documents - either out of sympathy for their cause or for cash.

"They are famous for doing this, not just for bin Laden, but for other groups," Badolato said.

Badolato said any government employees who may have helped the Cole bombing plotters were not sponsored by the government. Yemeni authorities have detained lower- and midlevel security officials in connection with the attack.