Limburg tanker bombing

''Maritime Jewel'' was a double-hulled oil tanker launched in 1999 and completed in 2000. Entering service that year, the ship was known as MV ''Limburg'' until 2003. The ship carried crude oil between ports in Iran and Malaysia. On 6 October 2002, ''Limburg'' was attacked by suicide bombers, causing roughly to leak into the Gulf of Aden. One crew member was killed and twelve more wounded in the attack. Four days after the attack, the tanker was towed to Dubai where she was repaired and renamed ''Maritime Jewel''. ''Maritime Jewel'' was broken up for scrap at Chittagong, Bangladesh on 15 May 2018.

Description

Ordered as ''Limburg'' the vessel was long overall and between perpendiculars with a beam of . The ship's gross tonnage (GT) was 157,833 tons, with a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 299,364 tons and a net tonnage (NT) of 108,708 tons. The ship was powered by a diesel engine driving one shaft giving the vessel a maximum speed of .

History

''Limburg''s keel was laid down on 24 May 1999 and the ship was launched on 28 August 1999. ''Limburg'' was completed on 5 January 2000 and entered service that year.

Bombing

On 6 October 2002, ''Limburg'' was carrying of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, and was in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen to pick up another load of oil. She was registered under a French flag and had been chartered by the Malaysian petrol firm Petronas. While she was some distance offshore, suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden dinghy into the starboard side of the tanker. Upon detonation the vessel caught fire and approximately of oil leaked into the Gulf of Aden. Although Yemeni officials initially claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident, later investigations found traces of TNT on the damaged ship.

One crew member was killed, and twelve other crew members were injured. The fire was extinguished, and four days later ''Limburg'' was towed to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The ship was renamed ''Maritime Jewel'', bought by Tanker Pacific, and repaired at Dubai Drydocks from March to August 2003. The attack caused the short-term collapse of international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and as a result, cost Yemen $3.8 million a month in port revenues.

Responsibility

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jehad.net website, which has since been shut down. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who allegedly also masterminded the USS ''Cole'' bombing, was charged by US military prosecutors for planning the attack. Osama bin Laden issued a statement, which read:

On 3 February 2006, Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeiee, who had been sentenced to death for the ''Limburg'' attack, and 22 other suspected or convicted Al-Qaeda members escaped from jail in Yemen. Among them was Jamal al-Badawi, who masterminded the USS ''Cole'' bombing of 12 October 2000. Of the 23 escapees, 13 had been convicted of the ''Cole'' and ''Limburg'' bombings. On 1 October 2006, al-Rabeiee and Mohammed Daylami were shot and killed by Yemeni security forces during raids on two buildings in the capital Sana'a. One of al-Rabeiee's accomplices was also arrested during the raids. In February 2014 Ahmed al-Darbi pleaded guilty before the Guantanamo military commission to helping plan several maritime terrorist attacks including the ''Limburg'' attack. By the time of the attack, al-Darbi was already detained at Guantanamo.

Fate

''Maritime Jewel'' was broken up for scrap at Chittagong, Bangladesh on 1 May 2018.

References

External links

Yemen ship attack 'was terrorism'
(BBC)


(Channelnewsasia)

Repairs post 2002 terrorist attack off Yemen
(Google + photo album)

1999 ships
2002 in Yemen
2002 murders in Asia
Al-Qaeda attacks
Maritime incidents in 2002
Murder in Yemen
October 2002 crimes
October 2002 events in Asia
Oil spills
Oil tankers
Ship bombings
Suicide bombings in 2002
Suicide bombings in Yemen
Terrorist incidents against shipping
Terrorist incidents in Asia in 2002
Terrorist incidents in Yemen in the 2000s

{{Campaignbox al-Qaeda attacks