Suspected terrorists who had been planning attacks in Saudi Arabia targeted the royal family as well as American and British interests, and received orders directly from Osama bin Laden, a senior security official said Thursday.
| They take this sort of thing a lot more seriously when it's their own necks on the line, don't they? If the targets had been Abdullah and Mahmoud, down in the public housing development, betcha it would have been alk runners again... |
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the prime targets were directly ordered by Osama bin Laden and [were] the prime targets were the defense minister, Prince Sultan, and his brother, the interior minister, Prince Nayef. On Wednesday, authorities said they foiled plans by at least 19 suspected terrorists to carry out strikes and seized a large cache of weapons and explosives in the capital. All escaped after a gunfight with police. In remarks published Thursday, Prince Nayef said the men could be linked to bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, which now was "weak and almost nonexistent." Nayef said the men, raised in Afghanistan, included 17 Saudis, an Iraqi holding Kuwaiti and Canadian citizenship, and a Yemeni. "These men have only one goal in mind: Jihad (holy war) ... They have been brainwashed," he said.
| Gosh. Wonder who aided and abetted that? |
Their names and pictures were shown on state-run Saudi television Wednesday, and a reward of 200,000 riyals (US $53,300) has been offered to anyone turning in any of the suspects. The confiscated weapons included hand grenades, five suitcases of explosives, rifles and ammunition, as well as computers, communications equipment and cash, officials said. |