Ship carrying missiles intercepted

WASHINGTON -- A ship carrying a dozen Scud-type missiles from North Korea was intercepted in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. They said the missiles were believed to be headed for Yemen.\nThe ship was stopped and boarded about 600 miles east of the Horn of Africa, the officials said.\nU.S. intelligence had been tracking the vessel closely, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.\nThe ship contained about a dozen short- to medium-range missiles, similar to the Scud missiles used by Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, the officials said. It also contained missile parts.\nThe ship was stopped and boarded by a patrol boat in the region.\nThe patrol boat was not a U.S. ship, but that of another nation, a U.S. official said. However, a U.S. team rushed to the scene to participate in the search, the official said.\nThe ship "had another flag, but it was a North Korea ship," the official said.\nThe ship was held in the area while the search continued.\nOfficials said the shipment did not appear to be headed for Iraq.\nYemen has been identified by the United States as a nation that has harbored terrorists, although its government has been an ally of the United States in the war against global terrorism. Yemen's port of Aden was the site of the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole by terrorists, which killed 17 sailors.\nYemeni officials contacted late Tuesday said they had no information concerning the ship, its contents or its boarding by international forces.\nThe boarding of the ship occurred as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was traveling in the area.