JEDDAH, 29 June 2003 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, met last night with tribal sheikhs from Bani Malik near Taif, the people and tribal leaders of Qunfuda and Budum, and professors at Madinah Islamic University.
All of them condemned the May 12 Riyadh bombings and the incidents that followed in Madinah and Makkah.
The crown prince stressed that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and love.
All of those who met the crown prince declared their support for the “wise leadership” of the Kingdom.
The crown prince stressed that the government will treat with an “iron fist” all those who tamper with the security and sanctity of the holy places, adding that those who commit terrorist acts are “an errant group” and like a rotten tree which the Kingdom “will continue to chop down.”
Meanwhile, the mothers of several wanted extremists have appealed to their sons to give themselves up after the surrender of one of the main suspects.
“I appeal to Turki to give himself up like Ali Al-Faqaasi did,” 70-year-old Eedah Raaji Saleh Al-Balhoud, mother of Turki Nasser Mishaal Al-Dandani, the most wanted terror suspect, told Okaz daily.
His colleague, Ali Abdul Rahman Saeed Al-Faqaasi Al-Ghamdi, turned himself in Thursday amid a huge manhunt after suicide attacks in Riyadh killed 35 people on May 12.
“If you want to see me happy and satisfied, please hurry up and turn yourself in. They will reach you sooner or later,” Eedah warned from her home in Skaka in Al-Jouf province.
Turki Al-Dandani, 27, tops a wanted list of 19 men published by the authorities just a few days before the suicide bombings in the capital. Ali Al-Faqaasi Al-Ghamdi was No. 2 on the list.
Turki Al-Dandani had traveled to Afghanistan two years ago and returned five months later, his brother Saud told the newspaper.
