USS Cole Bombing

Attack on a U.S. naval vessel carried out by the international terrorist group al-Qaeda. The attack on the USS Cole was one in a series of terror attacks on U.S. overseas interests by al-Qaeda during the second term of President Bill Clinton. The attack on the Cole confirmed al-Qaeda as a significant threat to the United States, although at the time the perpetrators remained unknown.

On October 12, 2000, the destroyer USS Cole stopped in the port of Aden, Yemen, for a routine refueling. A small boat later pulled alongside the destroyer and detonated a bomb close to the Cole. The suicide bombing left a hole approximately 40 feet square in the side of the Cole. Seventeen sailors were killed and an additional 39 were injured in the blast. In response to the attack, then President Bill Clinton said, “If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act. We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable.” Despite this threat, a legal debate emerged surrounding the bombing of the USS Cole because the perpetrators had attacked a military target. Under U.S. law at the time, attacks on military targets did not fall under the definition of terrorism. No overt military responses were initiated in response to the attack. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the United States learned that al-Qaeda was behind the bombing of the Cole.