Japan launched an investigation Wednesday into a suspected militant attack on one of its oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz last month, calling the blast an "extremely grave" incident.
Japan
launched an investigation Wednesday into a suspected militant attack on one of
its oil tankers in the
Strait of Hormuz
last month,
calling the blast an "extremely grave" incident.
The government said it had set up a special committee formed by the
Self-Defense Forces, coastguard, diplomatic, police and other government
officials.
The
United Arab Emirates
said
this month it believed that an explosives-laden boat had struck the M Star in a
"terrorist attack" that dented the hull of the Japanese vessel and
left one crew member slightly injured.
Militant jihadists have made unconfirmed claims that a suicide bomber attacked
the ship, owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (9104.TO) and crewed by 16
Filipinos and 15 Indians, on July 28 in international waters between
Iran
and
Oman
.
"It was extremely grave that such an act was carried out and that the
incident occurred" in a sea passage used by more than 80% of Japanese oil
tankers, Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told the investigative body.
"We have to work hard to verify the cause of the incident."
As the committee launched its probe, the Transport Ministry reported that the tanker's
Voyage Data Recorder had captured radar images that showed a small vessel
making suspicious movements nearby around the time of the blast.
The small boat was sailing away from the tanker before it "made a U-turn
toward the tanker and then disappeared off the radar for three and a half
minutes before the blast," an official said.
The ministry also reported that the tanker suffered sizeable damage above and
below the waterline, and the official added that "extraneous
material" had been recovered from the blast area.
The
Strait of Hormuz
, less than 100 kilometers across at its widest
point, is the gateway to the oil-rich Gulf and a vital shipping route through
which an estimated 40% of global oil exports pass.
The coastguard of the UAE, where the ship docked for repairs after the
incident, said on Aug. 6 that an investigation had found "remains of
homemade explosives on the hull" and that it suspected a "terrorist
attack."
U.S.
monitoring group SITE Intelligence has said the group Brigades of Abdullah
Azzam claimed in a message on jihadist websites that it had placed a suicide
bomber on the tanker, identifying him as Ayyub al-Taishan.
It said the attack was carried out in the name of Omar Abdul Rahman, the
Egyptian "blind sheikh" imprisoned in the
U.S.
for
his role in the 1993
World
Trade
Center
bombing in
New York
.
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