I haven’t seen any posts on this yet (maybe i just missed it) but i want to hear what some of you have to say about this, especially the “fundys…” in the month of ramadan, against fellow Muslims? surely you will condemn this…the link at the end (from Al Jazeera) shows that al Qaida has taken responsibility.
Attack Rallied Saudis Against Al-Qaeda: Turki
Staff Writer
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.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=34927&d=11&m=11&y=2003
Deadly Bombing of Saudi Homes Sours Al Qaeda Sympathizers
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: November 11, 2003
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 10 — The bombing of a housing compound whose residents were almost entirely Arab and Muslim late on Saturday has appalled Saudis far more than other terrorist attacks, evaporating expressions of support for Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network that were vaguely whispered or occasionally even shouted over the last two years.
“They lost their support on the street,” said Ehab al-Khiary, 27, a computer security specialist, standing on a broad avenue packed with cars during the typical 10 P.M. to midnight rush hour of Ramadan. “They are killing people with no cause.”
“The street was divided before,” he added, talking about similar attacks against three compounds in May that killed 34 people, including 8 Americans, 2 Britons and 9 attackers. “At that time it was seen as justifiable because there was an invasion of a foreign country, there was frustration.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, there were reports of a certain celebratory air in some Saudi neighborhoods, of congratulatory messages sent back and forth on mobile phones. In that and subsequent violence, the attackers seemed to be succeeding in reaching a constituency that among other things wants to remove a ruling family it sees as American stooges.
But that mood, fueled by the sense that behind it all was some sort of religious endorsement, is diminished, replaced by confusion and the uneasy feeling that the bombings this year are just the opening salvos in a very long fight.
“They can no longer say they are more or less raising the banner of jihad,” said Saad A. Sowayan, a professor specializing in Bedouin poetry at King Saud University, sipping orange juice in a hotel coffee shop. “Jihad is not against your own people.”
The fact that the targets were fellow Muslims lent the sense that the attackers might just be pursuing pure chaos. “If they were really seeking change they would resort to actions that would win them the support of the people,” the professor said. “Before, people could find excuses. It is getting so irrational that you cannot explain it, you cannot defend it, you cannot understand it.”
Of the 17 people reported killed in the bombing so far, all 13 identified were Arabs. Most of the 200 town houses in the Muhaya compound were occupied by Arab families.
The strong Arab identity, residents said, helped give them a sense of security.
“You don’t want to stay in a place where Westerners are common because then it would be a major target,” said Shakib el-Qasim, 40, an electrical engineer who became an American citizen while studying at the University of Texas in the 1980’s.
“I did not expect them to hit that compound because the culture inside the compound is more Arab than it is Western,” added Mr. Qasim, whose son, 10, and daughter, 9, were home alone studying when the attack occurred, the children fleeing the house as it collapsed around them. “It is more like you are in Egypt, you are in Syria, you are in Jordan.”
Oddly, Mr. Qasim had moved his wife and three children out of the more luxurious Hamra compound last spring when his American employer who paid for his villa pulled up stakes after its contract ended.
At the new compound, there was no alcohol. His wife wears the veil. He especially liked the idea that his children were hearing more Arabic on the playground — between the American school and their Western friends in Hamra they had been growing up without learning the language. A month after he moved them out of the Hamra, it was bombed.
There was no obvious explanation for an attack on a compound full of Arabs, although the assumed security of the Arab population may have made the guards less vigilant.
Saudi officials have laid blame for the attack on the Al Qaeda network headed by Mr. bin Laden, who has made no secret of the fact that he would like to overthrow the Saud dynasty. One thing that made him a folk hero to many was that he came right out and called the rulers corrupt, something that can only be whispered inside the kingdom.
But killing Muslims shattered the illusion that somehow the violence, however misguided, was vaguely connected to the idea of pushing reform. What gloating there was on Web sites after the attack tended to question the abilities of the interior minister, Prince Nayef, who is the chief law enforcement officer…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/11/international/middleeast/11SAUD.html
Al-Qaida threatens more attacks
Tuesday 11 November 2003, 20:30 Makka Time, 17:30 GMT
Usama bin Ladin’s group says it carried out Saturday’s bombing
The armed group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed 18 people in Riyadh, warning the next targets will be in the Gulf, the US and Iraq.
Al-Qaida’s claim comes shortly after several people were detained in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for suspected involvement in the blast.
According to a Saudi weekly published in London, al-Majalla, “al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on al-Muhaya in Riyadh this past Saturday. It said in an e-mail message received by one of our correspondents in Dubai that the next strikes will be in the Gulf, America and Iraq”.
The message was sent by an al-Qaida member, Abu Muhammad al-Ablaj, who is in regular contact with the publication.
Al-Ablaj warned those “who work and live with Americans”, adding that “their killing was permitted” according to religious edicts.
Arrests
Meanwhile, a diplomatic source close to the Saudi investigation said several suspects were arrested in the capital Riyadh and its outskirts.
“A group of suspects in the bombing was detained. The campaign to pursue the culprits started immediately after the bombing. Some were also detained and released after interrogation,” the source said.
“The campaign to hunt down those responsible is continuing,” he added.
Usama bin Ladin’s al-Qaida was from the beginning suspected to be behind the bombing in a housing complex, home to mostly Arab expatriates, which killed 18 people and left 120 wounded.
King vows retaliation
Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd vowed soon after the bombing those responsible would be dealt with by an “iron fist”.
“The retaliation would be stiff,” the king told a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday…