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Arabia
15 Saudis carried out Riyadh bombings: FM
2003-05-15
EFL:
Fifteen Saudis carried out the triple suicide bombings against expatriate residential compounds that killed and wounded scores of people, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday. "Fifteen Saudis did what they did in the attacks in the United States and 15 Saudis did the attacks here," Prince Saud told a news conference, referring to 15 out of 19 suicide hijackers, who carried out the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.
Humm, his statement is reported differently in the Arab News:
Prince Saud said 15 people had taken part in the terrorist attacks. “As in the Sept. 11 attacks in the US, the number of Saudis who took part in the Riyadh attacks was 15, and this fact should make Saudis and Americans sympathize with one another,” he said. No, it doesn't.
Monday night's bombings killed at least 34 people, including seven Americans and nine bombers, according to the latest toll from the Saudi interior ministry. Prince Saud declined to provide details about the fate of the six attackers not mentioned in the interior ministry's breakdown of the fatalities. Two senior State Department officials said Wednesday eight US citizens were killed in the Riyadh blasts. But the prince however admitted that there had been slackness on the part of the kingdom's concerned authorities. "The fact that these terrorist acts took place (means) there was a slackness. We must learn from our mistakes and improve our performance," he said.
"Not that we have in the past, but there comes a time..."
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the 19 attackers are believed to take orders directly from Osama bin Laden. In a series of e-mails Saturday and Sunday, a man who said he was the head of an al-Qaeda training camp, Abu Mohammed Al-Ablaj, or Mullah Seif el Din, told the Arabic weekly Al Majalla that the group was planning an attack in the Gulf using weapons and ammunition stored there.
Seif Eddin was described as a liaison between the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda...
A US counter-terrorism official had earlier said Al-Ablaj was a Saudi al-Qaeda operative known as Abu Bakr, whose real named is Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi. The official said Wednesday Al-Ablaj was not Abu Bakr and it was unclear whether either was al-Ghamdi. However, Al-Ablaj is a known al-Qaeda operative, and his e-mail is still regarded as credible and as implying al-Qaeda responsibility for Monday night's attacks, the official said.
More from the Arab News story:
Prince Naif confirmed that one of the 19 terrorist suspects, Ali Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, had surrendered to security authorities.
Anyone think the FBI will be allowed to talk to him?
He emphasized the role of foreign hands in Monday’s attacks. “Foreign hands supported the attacks. This is clear from the identity of the terrorists who have received training in Afghanistan from Al-Qaeda,” he said.
Saudi fundies inflamed by Saudi mullahs and trained by other Saudi terrorists in Saudi funded camps in Afghanistan. Yup, it's a foreign plot.
There's a foreign involvement to the extent the Talibs and Qaeda have joined at the top, which it looks like they have. Mullah Seif Eddin doesn't sound like an Arab — he sounds like an Afghan. To me, it looks like the Talibs have climbed aboard the world domination bandwagon. Maybe Prince Naif should think about cancelling some checks.
Prince Naif said he was not sure whether the perpetrators of the four bombings in Riyadh were the same 19 Al-Qaeda suspects discovered last week.
Some of them at least, but not the leaders.
Posted by:Steve

#5  Every once in awhile we stop and gasp in wonder on these pages at how much of the terror networks is a family affair. It's gotta be the in-breeding...
Posted by: Fred   2003-05-15 15:58:04  

#4  Sofia: Yes, but the Al-Ghamdi surname is even more common there than Smith or Johnson are here. But, blood is definitely thicker than water in the Kingdom in that clan/tribal society. So, may be a close relative.
Posted by: Michael   2003-05-15 15:39:47  

#3  Wasn't there an "al Ghamdi" involved in 9/11? Relative? Inbreeding?
Posted by: Sofia   2003-05-15 14:09:20  

#2  Meanwhile as things get back to normal in Saudi Arabia the American street...
Posted by: Lucky   2003-05-15 10:16:07  

#1  interesting contest - who will be first to actually admit that their own ideology is to blame for their mistakes: Saudi Arabia or the NY TImes?
Posted by: mhw   2003-05-15 09:51:41  

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