LONDON, 11 November 2003 — The Saudi ambassador to Britain said in an interview broadcast yesterday that he assumed Al-Qaeda was responsible for the suicide bombing at a Riyadh housing complex that killed 17 people. Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Kingdom’s former intelligence chief, said he based the assumption on similarities between Saturday’s attack in the Saudi capital and previous Al-Qaeda strikes.
“You just have to listen to Al-Qaeda’s publications and their statements and you knew that they wanted to continue doing what they’ve been doing,” he told BBC radio.
“From their modus operandi and the way that the attack was carried out, it’s almost an exact copy of previous attacks, and hence I must assume that it is Al-Qaeda.
“They don’t want the Kingdom to progress, they don’t want to see any future for the Kingdom, they want everything under their philosophy,” Prince Turki said.
The ambassador’s statement comes after US President George W. Bush assured Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, the United States stood with Saudi Arabia in the fight against terrorism. “The president spoke to Crown Prince Abdullah and he expressed his condolences to the people of Saudi Arabia and to the families of those killed in Saturday’s attack,” a White House official said. “The president also told the crown prince that the United Stated stands with Saudi Arabia in the war against terrorism.”
Prince Turki said most Saudis were hostile to Al-Qaeda. At least 13 of those killed Saturday were Arabs, with four still unidentified, an Interior Ministry official said. Five were children. In addition, 122 people were injured, most of them Arabs.
“Al-Qaeda, by doing these activities, have raised the ire and the anger of all. Most Saudis are now against them,” Prince Turki said. “Because there have been senseless killings aimed at innocents, they had nothing to do with even their intended targets, which are the United States and the West and the so-called Crusaders and Zionists.
“The fact that these people have targeted not only Arabs and Muslims, but also that they have done it in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has rallied the people against them.” The ambassador said he believed that the Kingdom’s campaign against terrorism was bearing fruit. “I think the policy is working. We have arrested many people, we have unearthed many caches of arms and explosives. Many of these terrorists have been killed in firefights.”
Meanwhile, the United States yesterday lifted restrictions on the movement of US diplomats and their families in the Kingdom. “Embassy personnel and their dependents in Riyadh are no longer restricted to the Diplomatic Quarter and may move about Riyadh to conduct official and personal business,” the US State Department said.
However, the department, which imposed the restrictions late Saturday, said the US Embassy in Riyadh and consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran would stay closed due to the unstable security situation.
The missions were closed Friday due to indications that extremists were plotting imminent attacks in the Kingdom and will remain shut “until further notice,” the embassy said in a notice to Americans.
