Suspect 'confesses to role in al-Qa'ida bombings'

Kuwaiti authorities were interrogating a man yesterday who has allegedly confessed to being a senior al-Qa'ida member and to being linked to several bomb attacks in Yemen.

An official from the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry named the man as Mohsen al-Fadhli, 21, a Kuwaiti national. He would not give further details about Mr Fadhli, but confirmed newspaper reports on Saturday about his arrest two weeks ago.

Kuwait's Al-Watan daily reported that the man had direct links to planning the 6 October attack on the French oil tanker Limburg off the Yemeni coast, in which a crew member was killed and 90,000 barrels of oil were spilt.

The newspaper said Mr Fadhli confessed he had ties to the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and that he had been planning to bomb an unnamed hotel in the Yemeni capital of San'a frequented by Americans. The plot allegedly involved ramming a black GMC Suburban filled with explosives into the hotel.

Mr Fadhli was said to have identified the man who was to be the driver as Osama al-Yemeni, 25. The newspaper said he told police that other al-Qa'ida members were going to shoot the guards, and thata discharged Kuwait Army officer had helped him raise $127,000 (£80,000) in Kuwait before transferring it to Yemen, through Saudi Arabia. The officer is also in custody. A US embassy official in Kuwait refused to comment. (AP)

* The British embassy in Yemen has been closed to the public after a review of security arrangements. The Foreign Office declined to give details of any threat received.