Japanese oil tanker attacked by terrorists, says UAE

Reports that a Japanese oil tanker was attacked in the Persian Gulf last month by a dinghy loaded with explosives have raised fears of a new terrorist campaign targeting global oil interests.

The M. Star, a 330-meter-long supertanker, was shaken by what appeared to be an explosion shortly after midnight on July 28 as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel of water separating Iran and Oman.

Today, a report in WAM, a state-run news agency in the United Arab Emirates, said experts investigating the cause of the damage in the UAE port of Fujairah had found traces of explosives on the tanker’s starboard hull.

It wasn't a rogue wave

“An examination carried out by specialized teams has confirmed that the tanker has been the subject of a terrorist attack,” WAM said, quoting an unidentified UAE coast guard official.

“UAE explosives experts who collected and examined samples found a dent on the starboard side above the water line and remains of homemade explosives on the hull,” the source said. “Probably the tanker had encountered a terrorist attack from a boat laden with explosives.”

The report lends weight to claims made Aug. 4 by a militant group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which claimed one of its members carried out a suicide bombing of the ship in an attempt to disrupt oil supplies.

One militant Islamist website displayed a photograph of the alleged bomber pointing at an image of the M. Star on a laptop computer.

The group, which has links to Al Qaeda, described the bomber as a “martyr” and said it delayed claiming responsibility in order to give its members time to return to base.

Japan is hesitant to point fingers

The Brigades said it carried out the attack in the name of Omar Abdul Rahman, who is serving a prison sentence in the US for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York.

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