Yemen 'admits' US blast was deliberate

Investigators are working on the USS Cole in Aden

The Yemeni president has accepted that it was a terrorist act that killed 17 US sailors in the port of Aden, US Defence Secretary William Cohen has said.

Speaking on television Mr Cohen said President Ali Abdullah Saleh now believes Thursday's explosion was deliberate.

There have been church services for the dead, in Norfolk

The sailors, ranging in age from 19 to 35, were killed when a small boat exploded alongside the destroyer USS Cole.

Thirty-three wounded sailors returned home on Sunday from a military base in Germany.

Some on stretchers, they received a hero's welcome at the ship's home port of Norfolk, Virginia.

Six of the most seriously injured crew members are still at the US military hospital in Ramstein, Germany, and the bodies of five of the victims were flown to the US on Sunday.

Mr Cohen on Sunday vowed to be "relentless" in finding out who was behind the attack. He told CBS television that the US would "make sure they pay a penalty for it".

He said the blast had "blown a hole in the heart of the American people as well as that ship".

Investigation

A team of federal investigators is in Aden, where the USS Cole is seriously damaged and listing badly. The explosion tore a hole in its hull as it was re-fuelling.

Admiral Vern Clark, also speaking on CBS television, said that on Saturday the ship experienced a "minor setback", losing power and the use of pumps controlling water levels.

He said the ship suffered some "additional flooding" which has been brought under control.

"They're working to rig emergency power to re-establish communications and control the situation," he said.

Aden's deep-water port has been used as a refuelling point for US warships for about two years and Admiral Clark said the USS Cole had always followed the correct procedures.

But he said refuelling in Aden had been halted while the incident was being investigated.

Security in the area has been heightened, and two or three additional ships are expected to arrive in a day or so, he said.

Two previously unknown groups, the Islamic Deterrence Forces and Mohammed's Army, on Friday said they were behind the attack, but officials have not yet confirmed who was responsible.