By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANAA, Yemen– The United States is warning ships sailing off the coast of Yemen that al Qaeda is planning attacks similar to that of the USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

The Office of Naval Intelligence posted the warning in order to promote security for shipping companies and other vessels.  According to the warning, the exact method of a planned attack is not known but it “may be similar in nature to the attacks against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the M/V Limburg in October 2002, where a small to mid-size boat laden with explosives was detonated.”

The warning further noted that “Although the time and location of such an attack are unknown, ships in the Red Sea, Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden along the coast of Yemen are at the greatest risk of becoming targets of such an attack.”

The Naval Intelligence posting comes in an area that has been one of the most active for Somali based pirate attacks in recent months.  According to a number of government anti-piracy reports, there have been 23 pirate attacks or suspected pirate incidents against ships in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, and western Indian Ocean over the past two months.

Furthermore, an increased al Qaeda presence in Yemen and Somalia as of late has contributed to the growing piracy problem.  Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen based affiliate of Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist network, announced in late December that it was calling on Muslims to wage a “mast media campaign of gathering information on U.S. Navy ships, their crews, how they are serviced by other nations, and data on possible nuclear weapons on board.”

The Yemen based statement said that al Qaeda had targeted the Navy in the past by bombing the Cole and that “every American naval vessel in the seas and oceans: aircraft carriers, submarines, and all of its war machines within range of al Qaeda will be destroyed.”

As one counterterrorism official explained “Extremists on the Arabian Peninsula continue to look to maritime interests as possible terrorist targets.”

For more information, please see:

CNN- U.S. Intelligence: Al Qaeda May Target Ships off Yemen– 22 March 2010

Reuters- U.S. Warns Ships off Yemen of Possible Al Qaeda Attack– 22 March 2010

The Washington Times- Navy Warns Ships About Al Qaeda Risk Near Yemen– 22 March 2010