Yemenis question USS Cole security issues

Yemenis probing the attack on the USS Cole are reported to have put questions about the ship's security to US investigators.

Investigators want details of a peddler, believed to be an American, they say boarded the Cole in the Suez Canal en route to Yemen's Aden harbor.

US and Yemeni officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report in the Yemeni military newspaper, 26 September.

The newspaper, which does not identify its sources, reports that Yemeni authorities want details of conversations the man had with sailors, what the sailors bought from him, any questions he asked sailors while aboard and where on the ship he went.

The newspaper says the peddler was a "clown" who "behaved like the English comic actor Charlie Chaplin".

It is the first report of an outsider being allowed on the Cole before the explosion, and could raise further questions about US security.

Last month, the United States and Yemen signed an agreement calling for closer cooperation between US and Yemeni investigators.

The accord was hammered out after Yemen initially balked at allowing the Americans much access to Yemeni suspects in the Cole bombing, saying it was a matter of sovereignty.