JEDDAH, 14 May 2003 — Condemnations and condolences from around the world began to pour in yesterday after four powerful bombs triggered by suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists left scores of people dead or injured in Riyadh.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush condemned the overnight car bombings at compounds housing American and other Western expatriates.
“Today’s attacks in Saudi Arabia, the ruthless murder of American citizens and other citizens, remind us that the war on terror continues,” Bush said, during a speech in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He said his thoughts and prayers were with the families and friends of the American victims of the bombing. “We mourn the loss of life,” Bush said. “These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate. The United States will find the killers, and they will learn the meaning of American justice.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry linked the series of suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and Chechnya, as a top Russian official accused Al-Qaeda of being behind the deadly blast in the breakaway Russian republic.
“The blasts in Saudi Arabia, in Chechnya and other places — these are links in the same chain,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement. “This leaves no doubt that the problem of terrorism in all its forms has not only not disappeared, but that it calls for the further mobilization and concentration of the powers of all countries to fight against this evil,” he said. At least 54 people were killed in a recent truck bomb attack on a local government building in the northern Chechen village of Znamenskoye.
China said it was shocked and concerned by the suicide attacks against American and Western targets in Saudi Arabia. “This serious bombing incident caused many casualties. We are shocked at it and we express our sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned in Jordan that the anti-Western suicide attacks threatened regional stability and prosperity. “The question of security is fundamental. Terrorism is terrible,” Solana added at a joint news conference in Amman.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed outrage over the bomb attacks, warning that the international community faced tough challenges posed by global terror.
“We are deeply shaken over the terrible series of bomb attacks,” said Fischer in letters to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal.
Australia said Al-Qaeda network was likely behind the bomb attacks. “We don’t have any information about Australians being hurt...and our impression is that it is likely to be an Al-Qaeda operation, particularly as there has been forewarning of a possible Al-Qaeda attack in Saudi Arabia,” Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States from May 22 as planned, despite the bomb explosions in Riyadh. He also condemned the culprits who carried out the terrorist attacks.
