U.S. airstrike targets USS Cole suspect

Action was retaliation for the al-Qaida attack nearly two decades ago that killed 17 sailors, military spokesman says.

WASHINGTON — An American airstrike earlier this week targeted an al-Qaida operative accused of involvement in the attack nearly two decades ago on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors, a U.S. military spokes- man said Friday.

The man targeted, Jamal al-Badawi, is wanted in the United States for his role in the Cole attack on Oct. 12, 2000.

Al-Badawi was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2003 and charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel.

CNN quoted an administration official as saying that intelligence indicates that al-Badawi died in the strike.

“U.S. forces are still assessing the results of the strike following a deliberate process to confirm his death,” the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Navy Capt. William Urban, said.

Urban said the airstrike was conducted Jan. 1 in the governate of Marib, which is east of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital.

The Cole, a guided-mis- sile destroyer, was attacked by suicide bombers in an explosives-laden boat while refueling at the Yemeni port of Aden.

The stunni n g assault, which also wounded 39 aboard the ship, foreshad- o wed the more deadly attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 that launched the U.S. on wars in the Middle East that are still underway, including in Afghanistan.

US NAVY / THE NEW YORK TIMES The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole was rocked by an enormous explosion on Oct. 12, 2000, that killed 17 sailors and injured 39 others.