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USS O`Brien makes refueling stop in Indian Port
A US warship that participated in the first military strikes against Afghanistan has docked in India`s southeastern port of Madras for three days of refueling and rest for its 348 crew members, US officials said on Tuesday.
A US warship that participated in the first military strikes against Afghanistan has docked in India's southeastern port of Madras for three days of refueling and rest for its 348 crew members, US officials said on Tuesday.
The USS O'Brien, a Spruance-class destroyer, docked in Madras on Monday and
will leave Thursday, the US Embassy said.
"This comes under the government of India's decision to provide logistic
support to the US forces involved in the global war against terrorism," said
Indian navy Rear Admiral S C S Bangara. "Whenever US ships want refueling
halts or other support, we will be providing it."
The berth where the 563-foot O'Brien is docked was cordoned off by armed US navy sailors and Indian security force officers, The Statesman newspaper
reported.
"I cannot say where we came from or where we are going," the paper quoted the
ship's captain, Navy Cmdr. Marcus B. Yonehiro, as saying. "I can only say that
we are part of the Seventh Fleet patrolling the Arabian Sea in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom."
The O'Brien, based in Yokosuka, Japan, was part of a flotilla of 40 US and
UK ships and submarines that launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, planes with
500-pound gravity bombs and computer-guided bombs from positions in the Arabian
Sea on October 7, U.S. officials in Washington said.
US officials said that the targets were radar installations, surface-to-air
missiles, airfields, aircraft, military command and control installations and
militant camps in Afghanistan - strongholds of the Taliban regime and Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaida network.
The US accuses bin Laden, sheltered by the Taliban, of plotting the September 11
terror attacks on the US.
Bureau Report