Navy has role in 3 probes of Suez incident

[unhappycamper]

Navy has role in 3 probes of Suez incident
Staff report
Posted : Thursday Mar 27, 2008 19:06:40 EDT

The Navy is conducting two investigations and supporting a third into the death Monday of an Egyptian man who was killed by a Navy security team when his small boat approached a U.S.-chartered cargo ship in the Suez Canal.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has begun a probe of the incident; U.S. 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, has begun a Judge Advocate General’s investigation, commonly known as a JAGMAN; and NCIS is contributing to the investigation by local Egyptian authorities, said Navy spokesman Lt. Sean Robertson.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, on Thursday called the shooting “unacceptable,” according to a state-run news agency. Also, President Bush called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to apologize personally Thursday, and 5th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff issued his own apology.

Mohammed Fouad, 27, was killed Monday when his small boat approached the Military Sealift Command-chartered ship Global Patriot. The Navy says the crew of the ship warned the boats via radio to say away, then blasted the ship’s horn and shot flares, then opened fire with a machine gun when the boats kept coming.

Navy security teams are wary of small boats in foreign ports after a small boat packed with explosives in 2000 blew a hole in the destroyer Cole in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors. Terrorists have targeted civilian vessels, too — in 2001, a suicide boat blew up near the French oil tanker Limburg off Yemen, killing one of the tanker’s crew members.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/navy_suez_probe_032708w/