Mighty Islamo-terror attack dents oil tanker hull

[Sea Skimmer]

6 August 2010 Last updated at 03:34 ET

Japan tanker was damaged in a terror attack, UAE says
breaking news

A Japanese tanker damaged last week in the Strait of Hormuz near Oman was the target of a terrorist attack, the United Arab Emirates state-run news agency has said.

It said remains of homemade explosives had been found on the hull of the M Star, which was damaged on Wednesday while travelling from Qatar to Japan.

Two days ago, an al-Qaeda linked group said it was responsible.

Officials previously said the ship may have been involved in a collision.

The crew of the ship reported an explosion shortly after midnight Wednesday last week, injuring one person.

"An examination carried out by specialised teams had confirmed that the tanker had been the subject of a terrorist attack," the news agency said, quoting an unidentified coastguard source.

"UAE explosives experts who collected and examined samples found a dent on the starboard side above the water line and remains of home-made explosives on the hull," it said.

Previous theories about the cause ranged from a large wave to a US nuclear submarine.

A statement signed by a "battalion" of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which is linked to al Qaeda, said one of its suicide bombers was responsible for the blast.

The claim, posted on a website used by Islamic militants, could not be independently verified, and the group has made false claims in the past.

If true, it would be the most serious act of maritime terrorism in the region since the attack on the tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen in 2002.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10890098

http://therearenosunglasses.wordpress.c ... explosion/
This second link is to a story from the time that has a picture of the damage since the first one has nothing, no doubt because the BBC doesn't own the rights to one yet since this was basically ignored by the media and one imagines, deliberately squashed by the UAE.

Such a pathetic attack that it took a week to confirm it was really terrorists, though it seems the interior is damaged more then the dished in plating might suggest and they lost a life boat overboard! SYou got to love how islamic terrorists are so good at slaughtering civilians in their home countries, but they can't even spill some oil with a suicide attack. Maybe they need consultants from BP?

[CJvR]

Hehehe!

A fanatic making the supreme sacrifice for Allah and the result? A small dent...

How unfortunate that not all terrorists are as ineffective.

[Flagg]

Hehehe!

A fanatic making the supreme sacrifice for Allah and the result? A small dent...

How unfortunate that not all terrorists are as ineffective.

Most are, they just get sensationalized to the point where you forget it. Look at the failed X-Mas day attack where all the guy did was burn his dick off, the shoe bomber, etc.

[kouchpotato]

Is that stream of water coming from the hull part of a ballast/other system that is used on a boat, or was it caused by the attack?

[Sea Skimmer]

Is that stream of water coming from the hull part of a ballast/other system that is used on a boat, or was it caused by the attack?

The former, this attack did not breach the hull or cause any flooding. Some internal damage to a hallway was caused by blast entering via a hatch up on the main deck though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYF_nXOq ... r_embedded
Some wider shots shown in the above of the ship show it was pumping water out from several points, my guess is because it was dumping ballast water to expose the full height of the damage area prior to repairs. Seems they've fixed the ship already and its back in service.

[[R_H]]

Turns out IEDing civilians etc is easier than breaching a tanker's hull.

[Themightytom]

BOMBPOCALYPSE!!!!
AAAAAAAAARRRGH!!!!!!


but seriously I'm glad no one was injured.

[Sea Skimmer]

One man on the crew was injured according to some reports. The injury is unspecified though; my guess would be ‘hit his head’ from the shock kind of injury rather then a direct blast-flash burn-fragment wound kind of injury, because if that had happened they would have never had any wiggle room on the cause of the damage.

[kouchpotato]

Is that stream of water coming from the hull part of a ballast/other system that is used on a boat, or was it caused by the attack?

The former, this attack did not breach the hull or cause any flooding. Some internal damage to a hallway was caused by blast entering via a hatch up on the main deck though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYF_nXOq ... r_embedded
Some wider shots shown in the above of the ship show it was pumping water out from several points, my guess is because it was dumping ballast water to expose the full height of the damage area prior to repairs. Seems they've fixed the ship already and its back in service.

Ah, thanks.

I wonder how many Al-Qaeda operatives died to make this dent...

[Kanastrous]

Only way to improve the story would be finding a clump of hair and teeth in the center of the depression...

[Psychic_Sandwich]

It's easy to laugh at this incident, but we really shouldn't. They failed this time, but it's a hell of a lot easier to fill a speedboat up with explosives on a deserted stretch of shoreline and drive it into a tanker than it is to try and sneak things through security in your shoes. Imagine, for example, if somebody in Somalia decided that, instead of pirating ships, they'd rather become martyrs. There's not really any way to stop them, given that they hold the initiative.

[Molyneux]

It's easy to laugh at this incident, but we really shouldn't. They failed this time, but it's a hell of a lot easier to fill a speedboat up with explosives on a deserted stretch of shoreline and drive it into a tanker than it is to try and sneak things through security in your shoes. Imagine, for example, if somebody in Somalia decided that, instead of pirating ships, they'd rather become martyrs. There's not really any way to stop them, given that they hold the initiative.

That may be true, but I doubt it's all that likely. Piracy appears to be a pretty effective way to make a living in those parts - why would they give that up just to go out with a bang?

I'm glad that no-one was killed and that the damage appears to have been minimal. I just wish we weren't such idiots - did those people have any idea what sinking an oil tanker would actually do to the marine life around there? To the fishermen who would starve?

[Sea Skimmer]

Actually these terrorists deserve credit on targeting, if nothing else since they clearly suck at bomb making. This attack was aimed right into the stern, the terrorists were thus looking to kill the ships crew and flood the engine room, not spill or burn the cargo. That shows they learned from 2002 tanker attack in which the suicide bomber merely blew up and burned a cargo tank amidships, which is not terribly threatening to an oil tanker. If that bomb had been powerful enough to defeat the hull it’s likely the resulting engine room damage would have rendered the ship a constructive total loss despite not sinking. People almost certainly would have been killed in the process. Of course its possible this isn't true, and the hit placement was forced on them by the intercept geometry, but I think that is very unlikely. Deliberate hit placement is far more likely.