By Susan Sevareid
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Jan. 12, 2001; 4:52 a.m. EST

ADEN, Yemen –– Yemenis probing the attack on the USS Cole have put a number of questions about the ship's security to U.S. investigators, a weekly Yemeni military newspaper reported.

The paper, 26 September, which hit newsstands in Aden late Thursday, did not say when the Yemenis made their request. Last month, the United States and Yemen signed an agreement calling for closer cooperation between U.S. and Yemeni investigators. The accord was hammered out after Yemen initially balked at allowing the Americans much access to Yemeni suspects in the Cole bombing, saying it was a matter of sovereignty.

U.S. and Yemeni officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the 26 September report.

The newspaper said the Yemenis were particularly curious about a peddler believed to be an American they say was allowed to board the Cole while it was stopped in the Suez Canal en route to Yemen's Aden harbor.

Yemeni authorities wanted details of conversations the man had with sailors aboard, what the sailors bought from him, any questions he asked sailors while aboard and precisely where on the ship he was allowed, said the paper, which did not identify its sources.

The report said that peddler was a "clown" who "behaved like the English comic actor Charlie Chaplin."

It was the first report of an outsider being allowed on the Cole before the explosion, and could raise further questions about U.S. security.

The Cole, refueling in Aden on the way to the Gulf to support the U.N. embargo against Iraq, was attacked Oct. 12 by a small boat that maneuvered alongside the destroyer and detonated a load of explosives. The blast killed the two bombers as well as 17 U.S. sailors.

The attack prompted an internal U.S. Navy inquiry on whether any Americans should be held responsible for security lapses. That review has been completed but not made public, while a separate inquiry seeking to draw lessons from what happened to the Cole concluded the U.S. military must take more aggressive precautions against terrorists.

Yemeni officials have said they are preparing to try at least eight Yemenis detained on suspicion of helping plot the attack and that they continue to pursue other suspects. No trial date has been set, but Prime Minister Abdul-Karim al-Iryani said last month that he expected it would be held in the last half of January.

During the past week, additional security forces have been arriving in Aden, where the trial is expected to be held, sources close to the investigation have told The Associated Press. A high-level security meeting was planned for Saturday in the capital, San'a, according to the sources.

Some of the questions 26 September said had been put to the Americans appeared to be part of the attempt to build cases against Yemeni suspects for the upcoming trial.

26 September said the Yemeni investigators also asked:

–how many people knew about the Cole's route and who told them;

–whether any abnormal telephone calls were received aboard the ship during the Cole's journey from the Suez Canal to Aden's harbor;

–what was found at the Cole blast site after the U.S. destroyer was towed out of Aden's harbor; and

–for details from U.S. explosives experts on the bomb materials and quantity, as well as results of lab tests on materials and samples sent to the United States.

The paper also quoted Deputy Interior Minister Motahar Rashad al-Masri as saying authorities still were looking for three people in connection with the bombing. Among them was Mohammed Omar al-Harazi, who earlier reports said issued orders to Cole plotters in Yemen by telephone from the United Arab Emirates.

The newspapers gave no details on the other two being sought.

Al-Masri also confirmed that five people have been arrested in connection with explosions Jan. 1-2 in Aden. Blasts went off at an Anglican church compound, near the official Yemeni news agency, at a hotel and along two major roads. Only one injury, reportedly minor, resulted from the blasts.

Three of the five suspects have provided detailed confessions of their involvement, al-Masri was quoted as saying.

There has been speculation in Yemen the small bombings were part of an attempt to disrupt preparations for the Cole trial.