Aden - Yemen said yesterday the explosion that crippled a US warship and killed 17 sailors was "a planned criminal act", the official Saba news agency reported.
It said President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Gen Tommy Franks, commander-in-chief of US Central Command, that "preliminary results and important evidence reached by security forces in Yemen . . . indicate that it was a planned criminal act".
The agency said the President expressed "his regret and strong condemnation for this shameful act, which aimed at harming the relations of friendship and co-operation between Yemen and the United States".