Evidence mounts Yemen explosion was terrorism

Evidence mounted today that an explosion on a French tanker off Yemen was caused by terrorists, and experts suggested it could be the work of a freelance terror cell sympathetic to al-Qaida.

A day after US officials called the blast a terrorist act by people linked to al-Qaida, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie cast off any lingering theories of an accidental explosion, saying “parts of a small boat and traces of TNT were found inside the tanker.”

Specialists from France, Yemen and the US have been trying to determine what caused the blast and fire on Sunday that killed one crew member on the Limburg and released 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.

Today’s disclosure that TNT traces were found on the vessel was the strongest indication yet of an attack similar to that on the USS Cole by an explosive-laden boat in October 2000.