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Politico:

UAE: Japanese tanker struck by suicide bomber

Investigators from the United Arab Emirates have determined that a Japanese oil tanker damaged in the Straits of Hormuz last month was struck by an explosive-filled boat in an act of terrorism, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported Friday.

“A responsible source at the UAE Coast Guard said that investigations and an examination carried out by specialised teams had confirmed that the tanker had been the subject of a terrorist attack,” WAM writes.

The report came after an al-Qaeda-linked group, the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam, claimed responsibility on its website for the suicide attack, the AP reports.

The M Star oil tanker, filled with 270,000 tons of oil, was damaged July 28 in the Strait of Hormuz after heading from the UAE port of Das Island to Japan.

The al-Qaeda-linked Brigades carried a photo on its website “of the purported bomber pointing to a photograph of a tanker on a laptop,” the AP reports. “It said the bomber was a ‘martyr’ – meaning he had died in the attack. It also said it had delayed the announcement until several group members who were involved in the operation ‘returned safely to base.’”

The Brigades have claimed responsibility for an attempted August 2005 Katyusha rocket attack on a U.S. assault ship in Jordan’s Aqaba Red Sea resort and for 2004 bombings of Egyptian resorts in which 98 people were killed, the AP said. Al-Qaeda attacked the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in 2000 and has attacked Saudi oil infrastructure.

"I think unless they [the UAE] are absolutely certain [the tanker was damaged in an act of terrorism] then it is a very dangerous thing to say and very irresponsible as it may well raise insurance rates for ships going into the Gulf and may well drive up oil prices at a time the global (and U.S.) economy don't need more stress," a former senior U.S. official who works on the region told POLITICO.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have recently announced bans on BlackBerry messaging and e-mail services citing security risks posed including by those plotting terrorist attacks using the encrypted services. There were conflicting reports Friday about whether Saudi Arabia had cut off some or all BlackBerry services.

"The [BlackBerry] ban is not directly tied to [the tanker] incident, though [it's] clear evidence that the bad guys in general have been using [BlackBerry] for communications," a source familiar with the UAE's position on the issue said