USS Cole suspect accuses bin Laden

ADEN, Yemen (AP) - A key suspect in the attack on the USS Cole told authorities in his confession that he believes the suicide bombers acted on the orders of Osama bin Laden, Yemeni sources close to the investigation said yesterday.

The suspect's comments provide another in a series of circumstantial links between the Saudi exile and the deadly attack on the U.S. warship.

The sources did not identify the man, but described him as one of the three chief suspects in custody. He and up to seven others may be tried, perhaps as early as this month, in the Oct. 12 bombing of the American destroyer that killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded 39 during a refueling stop in Aden.

Yemen's prime minister has said authorities have identified one of the bombers and were close to identifying the second.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. defense official said yesterday that the Navy's highest ranking officer, Adm. Vern Clark, has decided to let stand a determination made last week that neither the captain nor the crew of the USS Cole should be disciplined for failing to follow all prescribed security precautions before the attack.

Clark was expected to submit his written endorsement soon, said the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Navy planned to announce this week the result of its investigation of the Cole bombing, which sought to determine the circumstances of the attack and what preventive measures the crew had taken.

Authorities have yet to establish a firm connection between the attack and bin Laden, but U.S. law enforcement officials have said several threads link the suspects held in Yemen to the bin Laden organization. Bin Laden, who is living in Afghanistan, has virtually declared war on what he sees as the anti-Islamic United States, and U.S. officials consider him their No. 1 terrorism suspect.

The jailed Yemeni man's brother was described as a prominent Arab Afghan, as Islamic fighters who helped push Soviet forces out of Afghanistan in the 1980s are known. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect confessed that he helped his brother run one of two safe houses where visiting fellow Arab Afghans would meet.

Authorities were searching for the brother, the officials said.

The brother's safe house, they said, was in Sa'da province, near the Saudi border, and the other safe house is in Saudi Arabia, though the sources did not say where. The two brothers' home is elsewhere in Sa'da, they said.

The suspect in custody told authorities that an unidentified Syrian man supervises bin Laden's activities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Syrian, he told police, is among 12 to 20 Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians, Syrians and other Arabs who are close to bin Laden and live with him in Afghanistan.

According to the sources, the suspect said all the Afghan Arabs who came to his brother's safe house worked for the Syrian. The two alleged suicide bombers were among a group that the suspect told investigators visited the safe house before the attack on the Cole, the sources said. It was not clear when the visit took place, and the identities of the two bombers have not been released.

The suspect said that the Afghan Arabs who came through his safe house were all either preparing attacks or hiding out from authorities, so it was natural for him to assume the two who authorities believe were the suicide bombers were planning something. He told authorities he had not known what the target would be, sources said.

Bin Laden, who is of Yemeni descent, recruited Arabs in Yemen to the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and is believed to draw on them and other Arab Afghans to support a global militant Islamic terror network.

According to the sources, the suspect also provided details about bin Laden's network. They described his confession as saying that:

-If a member of the inner circle drops out of sight, an attack is being planned or carried out. Even within the group, nobody is allowed to ask questions about where the missing man has gone.

-Only the most trusted of bin Laden's associates are allowed to train in using C-4, the plastic explosive used in the Cole bombing.

It was unclear whether the suspect had signed the confession. Prosecutors in Aden and police ministry officials refused comment on what the sources said.

On Saturday, 10 to 15 American and Yemeni investigators visited locations allegedly used by the bombers, photographing the area where the two allegedly put their explosives-laden boat into the harbor, a local fisherman said. About half of them were Americans.