Al-Qaeda: Riyadh attacks targeted interior minister
group vows more attacks on 'infidels and christians'
About 170 people, including Westerners, have been killed in the kingdom since Sept. 2003 in a wave of shootings, bombings and kidnappings
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 05, 2005 
The Saudi wing of Al-Qaeda said it had tried to assassinate the kingdom's Interior Minister in two high-profile suicide bombings in Riyadh last week, according to an Internet statement posted on Tuesday. The statement, signed by the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula and dated Dec. 31, also vowed the group would wage more attacks against "infidels and Christians" in the world's top oil exporter. "A brigade prepared a complex operation to kill the head of apostasy in the Arabian Peninsula, (Interior Minister) Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, his son and entourage and also striking the headquarters of the emergency forces," the Al-Qaeda statement said. "A number of crusader trainers were killed in the training headquarters and several of the forces were wounded," it added. "We are determined to regroup and prepare unique operations to expel the polygamists, infidels, Jews and the Christians from the peninsula of Prophet Mohammed." The Interior Ministry, headed by Prince Nayef, a brother of King Fahd, said at least 18 people were wounded in the Dec. 29 attacks, in which militants detonated two bomb-rigged cars outside its heavily fortified compound and a training unit for the emergency forces. Prince Nayef was outside Saudi Arabia at the time. Prince Nayef's son, Ahmed bin Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, is also his deputy at the Interior Ministry. Prince Nayef said on Tuesday the kingdom would fight militants until it eradicated terrorism. "We need to uproot terrorism ... and silence those with deviant thoughts," he said in comments on state television. Five bombers were killed in last week's attacks, and they where hailed by the Al-Qaeda statement as martyrs and heroes. Police shot dead seven gunmen from the group in a raid on a Riyadh house hours later. Among the 12 slain Al-Qaeda militants, three were on a list of 26 most wanted. Security forces have so far killed or arrested 20 militants on the list. Earlier, the interior ministry said that one of the five bombers was also linked to the kidnapping and murder of U.S. engineer Paul Johnson last year. A ministry statement carried by local media identified the suicide bomber as Ismael al-Khuzaim and said he had gathered information on foreign residents in the Gulf Arab state for the "deviant group" - what the government calls Al-Qaeda. "He translated for the group, collected information about foreign residents and participated in the kidnapping and killing of one of them," said the statement. Johnson, an engineer for helicopter gunship maker Lockheed Martin, was kidnapped and beheaded in June by Al-Qaeda militants. Khuzaim was not on the kingdom's list of most wanted militants. It said the car which detonated near the Interior Ministry had around 1.5 tons of explosives. Another car with nearly 1.3 tons of explosives blew up near a security center. Saudi Arabia has been rocked by a surge in attacks linked to the local wing of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group. About 170 people have been killed, including Westerners, in the wave of suicide bombings and shootings since May 2003. Last week's attacks were the second strike by Al-Qaeda in one month after militants stormed the U.S. consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, killing five non-American consulate staff. The strikes were also the second on a government target since April, when a suicide bombing gutted a security forces building in the capital. - Agencies |