RIYADH, 19 May 2003 — Interior Minister Prince Naif announced yesterday that five of the nine terrorists who carried out suicide bombings in Riyadh last week, killing 25 and injuring nearly 200, had been identified.
Among them were three men whose pictures the government released following a raid on an Al-Qaeda cell in Riyadh on May 6, when all 19 of its members — including 17 Saudis — managed to escape.
Prince Naif also announced that four men have been arrested in connection with the bombings. They too were members of the raided cell. They knew about, but did not partake in, the Riyadh operation, he said.
Prince Naif expressed his hope that the results of the investigation would soon be made known.
“Time will be needed to identify the bodies” of those whose pictures were released earlier,” he said.
“The investigation is still at its beginning, and we will need time to verify facts,” he said.
He said the Kingdom wanted to know who masterminded the attacks.
“We’d like to know who has benefited from these attacks. People who carry out such attacks are criminals and should receive the maximum punishment wherever they are in the world. Our punishments for them will be severe. We have to ask who is benefiting from such attacks and who are supporting them, and if they are located in the West and in other parts of the world,” he added.
He said that all the signs were that the perpetrators of the bombings were members of Al-Qaeda.
There is no information, he said, regarding Saif Al-Adel, an Egyptian reported by the Washington Post to be the mastermind behind the Riyadh bombings.
“The American authorities have to acknowledge this. We have not received anything that confirms or denies the matter,” he said.
The prince said the 60 Americans who arrived in the Kingdom to help in the investigation were welcome. “They have come here at their own request, and they are here only for inspection purposes,” he said.
A team from Scotland Yard that has also arrived in the country was also welcome, the prince said, “and should they need to look into anything we will let them do so.”
One questioner highlighted discussion of apparent discrepancies in intelligence information gathered by the Kingdom and the United States, but the prince insisted there is close cooperation between the two countries.
“We work closely with the US government to fight terrorism,” he stressed.
“What has been said by the US president, the secretary of state and the head of this FBI is I think enough to confirm the satisfactory work of the security authorities in Saudi Arabia. That they say all this is more than enough to put everything else in the past” he added.
The minister said that a connection between the Riyadh bombings and the bombings in Morocco on Friday had “not been verified 100 percent.”
“I was on the phone this morning with the Moroccan interior minister, and their investigations are in their early stages. We will wait for the Moroccan authorities to tell us what happened there.”
He said he did not rule out similar attacks in the future, and called for a global effort to fight terrorism.
“We have to prepare ourselves and be ready. We need to intensify our efforts worldwide to combat terrorism,” he told the audience of international journalists.
It was impossible to rule out completely such incidents occurring anywhere in the world, he stressed, but the important thing was to bring the guilty to book.
The concerted efforts under way in the Kingdom showed the people’s trust in their leadership, the prince added.
“I also think that our efforts should not stop with the assailants, but more importantly extend to those who planned these attacks. They are around in the world...therefore there needs to be an international effort to root out these people in order for us to make a real difference in combating terrorism,” Prince Naif said.
The prince said there had been no shortcomings from security officers in protecting the scene of the blasts and investigations were progressing normally.
He said the problem of terrorism was no bigger in Saudi Arabia than anywhere else in the world, despite reports that 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis and that most of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are Saudis.
“As for the numbers, nothing from an official security source has been released,” he said.
“I think there are other nationalities involved as well. I don’t know why there is so much focus on Saudi Arabia in particular. We denounce these acts, whether they come from Saudis or non-Saudis. It makes no difference to us whether they are Saudi or not when these acts have been carried out. We see them equal in this perspective,” he said, adding that the Kingdom had joined hands with the international community to fight terrorism.
Five Saudis have been released from Guantanamo and the Kingdom has allowed their families to see them, he said. “We will refer them to court for trial,” he added.
The US presence in the Kingdom had been under a UN resolution, he said, and their “withdrawal followed not because of demand from any party but because the no-fly zone they were patrolling in southern Iraq according to UN resolutions had ceased to exist.”
“As for foreigners residing in the country, we assure them that the situation is stable here and that things are normal. We cannot prevent anyone who wishes to leave the country. But we will protect anyone who lives here,” he stressed.
The minister dismissed rumors of forthcoming attacks in Jeddah and said they originated from non-security sources.
In response to a question regarding calls for the abolition of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the prince said the commission was part of the country, the constitution of which is based on the Holy Qur’an.
“The Commission...will continue in its duties so long as this country exists,” he said. “As for some of the shortcomings from its members, that can happen in any other government body.”
But he conceded there were calls for an improvement of the commission’s performance and its development according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
“As we all know, the promotion of virtue comes before the prevention of vice. The Qur’an says that if the Prophet, peace be upon him, had not been merciful, people would have shunned him. The commission’s main theme is the protection of values in society.”
Prince Naif insisted that there would be no separation of religion from other aspects of life as religion had been founded to ensure a better life for human beings.
“Our foundation is based on the Qur’an and the Prophet’s teachings, and there can be no evil in that. Our religion encourages scientific development and progress for mankind,” he added.
Asked whether the reforms announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd would include the judiciary, the Interior Ministry, and the participation of women in more active roles, the prince said: “I hope that no one will misinterpret what the king said yesterday. However, every word that was said was meant, and our leaders will strive for the development of the country and the people.”
