JEDDAH, 14 August — Three Britons yesterday confessed on Saudi television to their involvement in the bombings that took place in Riyadh and Alkhobar between December 2000 and March this year.

Their confessions were aired after Interior Minister Prince Naif announced that British nationals had been behind the bombings at the Euromarche department store and the Jarir Bookstore in Riyadh and another blast in Alkhobar.

“It gives me pleasure to announce that the investigators have identified those who committed the bombings in the city of Alkhobar, and at the Euromarche and the Jarir Bookstore in Riyadh. They are all British citizens,” Prince Naif said.

The investigation into the attacks is not yet complete. Prince Naif said the confessions of the three alleged bombers were being aired to make everybody aware of the result of the investigations so far.

“They have explained in these confessions how they carried out the bombings,” he added.

The three men, identified as James Patrick Lee, 40, James Christopher Cottle, 51, and Les Walker, 55, gave detailed confessions with maps on which they pinpointed the three attacks that left two other Britons and an Egyptian injured.

They had “received orders” to carry out the attacks, the three said, but they did not elaborate. Lee, who was at the time working at a military hospital in Riyadh, said he and Cottle had been recruited in November to carry out the blasts.

“Although we have been able to speedily identify those who committed the crimes, the completion of investigations requires more time,” the interior minister said. He praised the efforts of Saudi investigators in tracking down the culprits.

A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office told Arab News it was not surprised by the appearance of the three Britons, and added that the Saudi government had informed London in advance last Sunday about their imminent confession on television. She said the British government was deeply concerned and was following up the matter with Riyadh. Ultimately, she said, it will be for the Saudi judge and court to decide whether these men are guilty and to weigh the quality of the evidence against them.

Meanwhile, the British ambassador to Riyadh, Derek Plumbly, has spoken with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on the matter.

 The AFP news agency quoted a Saudi official as saying that authorities had decided not to release the identities of those who ordered the bomb attacks until investigations are complete.

The broadcast showed the middle-aged men, who appeared composed, describing in minute detail how they carried out the three attacks. An Arabic translation of their remarks was broadcast over their voices.

The three men confessed to the Dec. 15 blast in Alkhobar that targeted British citizen David Brown, an employee of Coca Cola International, wounding him in the shoulder, throat and stomach.

“In November, James Cottle and I were recruited to carry out bombings in the Riyadh area and in the coastal area. In December, Cottle and I got orders to carry out a bombing in Alkhobar,” Lee said.

“Cottle and I went to Alkhobar on Dec. 15. We proceeded to the Azizia Market and drove our car into the parking area. Cottle gave me the explosives, packed into a juice carton. I placed them under the windscreen wiper and we left for Riyadh. We later heard that the bomb had exploded,” Lee said.

Cottle said he and the other Briton had received the orders to carry out the second bombing in Riyadh in January, and added that the bombing at Euromarche was carried out jointly by the three men after the plan to do so was drawn up at Al-Falah complex, where they were staying.

“Before entering Euromarche, we made a round of the department store. Walker was carrying the explosives. I made another round, to give them enough time to place the bomb,” Lee confessed, adding that Walker later detonated the device.

Lee said the three received the order for the third bombing in March. “We selected the Jarir Bookstore as the target,” he said. He recalled that the bombing was carried out on a Thursday evening. Lee admitted that he put the explosives in a garbage box located at the store’s gate and detonated the device.

In his confession, Cottle said he had been working for a private construction firm. He had come to the Kingdom on a visit visa and was associated with Al-Musmira Establishment.

For the Euromarche bombing, he said, he and his accomplices had set out in his white Toyota jeep. “I made the device ready and handed it to Lee after we reached the parking lot of the department store,” he explained. Cottle said he kept an eye out while Lee placed the explosive near the telephone cabins.

Cottle also admitted that he was ordered to select a market frequented by Westerners for the third bombing. “This time I selected the Jarir Store and the blast was carried out on the night on March 15,” he said. Cottle confessed that on that night he detonated explosives placed by Lee. The Jarir blast left one Briton and one Egyptian slightly wounded.

Walker said he was asked by the other two to take part in one of the bombings. “Like an idiot, I agreed. They told me that we were doing this to confuse the police who had apprehended Alexander Mitchell,” he said.

Mitchell was one of the three Westerners who have earlier confessed on television to involvement in separate bombings which rocked Riyadh in November. Those attacks killed a Briton and injured several people.

Walker, who worked as a production and maintenance manager for a Saudi holdings company at the Izdihar housing complex in Riyadh, said the device used for the Euromarche blast was like a firecracker.

Two similar bombings in November 2000 killed one man, and three Westerners have confessed to their involvement in the crimes. Saudi newspapers have linked all the attacks to the illegal trade of alcohol and Saudi authorities have announced the arrest of 12 expatriates in what is believed to be a link to the illicit business of alcohol bootlegging in the Gulf countries.

Ex-British soldier Alexander Mitchell, Canadian William Sampson and Belgian Raf Skivens confessed on Saudi television in February to two bombings that killed one Briton and injured several others.

Prince Naif then announced on June 6 that Saudi security officers had identified the persons who carried out a series of blasts in Riyadh and Alkhobar.

“Investigations are still continuing to discover who was behind the blasts,” the minister added.

Prince Naif said Garry Dixon, a Briton held in connection with the Riyadh bombings, had been found innocent.

“Investigations did not prove his involvement in the blasts,” the interior minister said, but added that Dixon will be tried for leaving the country illegally and involvement in the illegal alcohol trade.