JEDDAH, 12 January — Interior Minister Prince Naif said yesterday some Saudi nationals had been detained for links to a 1996 bombing, which killed 19 US servicemen.

But the prince added the main suspects were still at large in rare remarks about the Khobar Towers bombing during an interview with Okaz newspaper.

"There will come a day not far away when we will say who is behind Khobar...For the interests of the case and the investigation there is a delay due to the presence of some strong and important elements abroad. But we cannot specify or say who is the person or the party behind the incident until we have all the information," Prince Naif said.

He did not say which countries the suspects were believed to be in. The prince confirmed suspected links between Saudi dissident Hani Al-Sayegh and the bombing. The dissident was extradited from the United States for suspected links to the Khobar bombing.

"He is detained and if he was not involved he would not have been detained," Prince Naif said. Asked if other Saudi nationals were also detained over the bombing, he said: "Yes...their number is not big and could be counted on the fingers".

He said people of other nationalities had not been detained. The truck bombing at the Khobar Towers military complex in Eastern Province killed 19 US soldiers.

The Kingdom has not revealed details of its long investigation into the bombing and has rejected any foreign intervention in the probe.

Prince Naif strongly refuted as "a lie" the allegation that his ministry was not capable of ensuring security in the Kingdom. "We have tracked down the culprits behind every criminal cases that took place in the country... and punished them," he told the Arabic daily and cited some examples.

He pointed out that many foreign governments had failed to find out the perpetrators behind some internationally-known crimes. "Who killed Kennedy? Who were behind London bombings? Who broke into Buckingham Palace and entered the queen's room? Who were behind the White House firing? Who killed Princess Diana? Who were behind the Lockerbie bombing? he asked.

Prince Naif ruled out any link between Wednesday's blast at Euromarche and the previous three bombings in Riyadh and Dhahran. He said firecrackers might have caused the mall blast.

The official Saudi Press Agency quoted the police chief in Riyadh as saying that "what sounded like an explosion" was heard in Riyadh and that "after examining the scene traces of firecrackers were found near the outer wall" of the mall. There was no damage and no one was injured.

Witnesses had said the explosion at Euromarche, an 80-shop commercial complex in the center of Riyadh, appeared to have come from a telephone booth. "It was a small explosion. It caused slight damage to the telephone booth and to a car passing by," Euromarche chairman Ibrahim Al-Malek told reporters.

The incident comes after three blasts in the past two months in which one Briton was killed and six others were injured.