Kingdom determined to combat terrorism

The Kingdom has reiterated its determination to proceed with its efforts to combat terrorism.
“The fight against terrorism is an international obligation,” Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah said while addressing the third ministerial meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum organized in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
The prince noted that the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to establish an international center for combating terrorism had resulted in the recent setting up of the UN Counterterrorism Center in Riyadh.
Prince Abdul Aziz, who is leading the Kingdom’s delegation to the event, commended the establishment of the Center of Excellence on Countering Violent Extremism in Abu Dhabi and expressed the Kingdom’s readiness to cooperate with the facility and share the Kingdom’s experience in the field of fighting extremism and rehabilitation.
The Kingdom resorted to various methods to fight extremism at domestic, regional and international levels, the Saudi Press Agency reported. It has been successful in facing the challenge of terror and extremism over the past decade.
The Kingdom faced a major terror attack when attackers drove three cars laden with exolosives into residential compounds housing Westerners and others killing 26 people at a Riyadh compound in May, 2003. Nine bombers also died in the attack. Another major attack in the year was on Al-Mohaya residential compound in Riyadh, killing 17 workers and injuring more than 100. In May the following year, the militants staged one of their most complex attacks in Alkhobar, killing many people.
The militants’ most brazen attack perhaps was the storming of the American Consulate in Jeddah in December 2004. Apart from the troublemakers, five embassy workers were killed in the incident.
In August 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Jeddah in a botched attempt to assassinate Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Naif who was leading the fight against terror under his father late Prince Naif, the then interior minister.