WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash, the suspect accused of planning the attack against the USS Cole in October 2000, has confessed he was behind the bombing of the U.S. battleship in Yemen, a transcript released on Monday by the Pentagon showed.

    Bin Attash, an al-Qaida member, made the confession during a recent military hearing at the detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

    He said he planned the operation for one year and a half before the operation, including buying the explosives and the boat and recruited members for the attack against the U.S. destroyer when it was refueling on Oct. 12, 2000, which killed 17 sailors and injuring 37 others.

    "I put together the plan for the operation a year and a half prior to the operation, buying the boat and recruiting the members that did the operation," he said.

    Last week, the Pentagon released the transcript of a military hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected al-Qaida mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks, in which Khalid admitted his role in the attacks and that he had plotted nearly 30 other attacks.