LONDON, 26 October 2003 — Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to London yesterday rebuked Britain for not consulting his country over a warning to citizens not to travel to the Kingdom because of a risk of “terrorist” attacks.
In a statement, Prince Turki Al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia had been undertaking active measures to combat terrorism, which had been successful.
“The Kingdom wishes that when such advice is given by sources outside the Kingdom that there would be coordination between the people giving the advice and the authorities in the Kingdom,” the statement added.
The rebuke follows a statement from Britain’s Foreign Office on Friday saying “terrorists” could be in the final stages of planning attacks in Saudi Arabia and warning that Britons should not travel there unless essential.
The US Embassy released another advisory for American citizens, the latest in a series of messages warning about the risks of unspecified terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia.
The latest Warden Message, No. 42, found in full online at http://riyadh.usembassy.gov/wwwusc42.doc, reads:
“The embassy continues to receive information that terrorist groups within the Kingdom are still active and planning future operations. It is the embassy’s assessment that terrorist groups may place special operational significance on the upcoming month of Ramadan and American citizens are therefore urged to be particularly vigilant during this time.”
Two weeks ago the US Embassy sent out Warden Message No. 40, advising of possible bomb threats against the Al-Faisaliah and Kingdom Towers. Later the US Embassy released information in Warden Message No. 41 that “information available to the embassy now indicates that the time period specified in the threat has passed. No explosive device has been discovered at either Kingdom or Al-Faisaliah towers. All tenants in both Al-Faisaliah and Kingdom towers are conducting normal business operations.”
In fact all tenants contacted by Arab News over the past two weeks in both of those prestigious Riyadh office towers claimed that they were unaware of any new security threats whatsoever. After the latest Warden Message yesterday, Arab News contacted several major local travel agents and none are showing any significant booking cancellations. On the contrary, flights of airlines operating in the Kingdom are increasingly full through year-end.
Arab News contacted both Intercontinental and Sheraton hotel groups and was told that they received no booking cancellations for their hotels in Makkah. Those hotels are already fully booked for the last 10 days of Ramadan with pilgrims expected from around the world.
