Saudi detainee charged in tanker bombing

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A Saudi man held at Guantanamo for a decade has been charged with helping to blow up a French oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden in 2002, among other charges.

Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi could face life in prison if convicted, the U.S. Department of Defense said.

The charges, filed Wednesday, alleged that al-Darbi, 47, "aided and abetted" an attack against the ship, MV Limburg, in which a number of civilians were injured.

A Bulgarian crew member died in the attack, The Miami Herald reported.

The Defense Department statement said al-Darbi joined al-Qaida in 1997 and attended terrorist camps run by the organization in Afghanistan. He was a weapons instructor at one of the camps, officials allege.

From 2000 to 2002, the statement adds, al-Darbi supported efforts by al-Qaida groups to bomb commercial oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of Yemen.

Al-Darbi was captured in Azerbaijan and brought to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in August 2002, two months before the attack on the MV Limburg.