USS Cole Bombed: Terror Strikes in Aden Harbor
Two al-Qaeda operatives steered a small fiberglass boat loaded with 400 to 700 pounds of C-4 explosive alongside the USS Cole while the destroyer refueled in Aden harbor, Yemen, on October 12, 2000. The explosion tore a 40-by-60-foot hole in the ship's port side, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. The Cole was nearly sunk; only the crew's damage control efforts kept it afloat. The attack was planned by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri under Osama bin Laden's direction. An earlier attempt to bomb the USS The Sullivans in the same harbor had failed in January when the bombers' skiff sank under the weight of its explosives. The Cole attack exposed fundamental gaps in U.S. force protection and served as a direct precursor to the September 11 attacks eleven months later.
October 12, 2000
26 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on October 12
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