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| Tuesday, 11 November 2003 |
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US warns of more attacks after Saudi bomb kills 17 RIYADH, Monday (Reuters) Rescuers worked into the night to pull bodies from the site of a suicide bombing that killed at least 17 people in Riyadh on Sunday as the United States warned al Qaeda might be planning more such attacks. Saudi Arabia, which is battling a surge in Islamist violence, vowed to hunt down those linked to the attack and, along with the United States, blamed al Qaeda. Rescue teams were still searching the wreckage more than 24 hours after the attack on the Muhaya residential compound, which housed mostly Arab expatriate workers. Bombers posing as police blew up their rigged car in the compound. In addition to the dead, officials said around 120 people were wounded, including 36 children. "The search and the investigation continues," an Interior Ministry official said in remarks carried on state television, confirming the latest toll. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who arrived in Riyadh on Sunday, told reporters: "I can't say that last night's attack was the only or the last attack. My view is these al Qaeda terrorists - and I believe it was al Qaeda - would prefer to have many such events." A Saudi security source in Riyadh said the attack was an "al Qaeda operation". Supporters of the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group have threatened to attack Saudi Arabia's rulers and Westerners in the kingdom. Bin Laden last month vowed to strike American targets inside and outside the United States. Saudi Arabia has been under pressure to act against al Qaeda since the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001. Most of the attackers were Saudis and al Qaeda is widely held responsible. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, told Reuters in London that attacking a lightly-defended target such as the compound was a "clear sign of a desperate group that wants to show it can do things". "They want to show that they can do something, after all the successes that we've had in tracking these people down over the last six months. There have been many arrests, many discoveries of arms caches, munitions and explosives. So these people are in a desperate state." The Saudi ministry official said seven Lebanese, four Egyptians, one Saudi, one Sudanese and four unidentified people had been killed. The dead included five children. Four Americans of Arab origin and six Canadians were among the injured, whose countries of origin also included African and Asian states. Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the kingdom would not be shaken by the attack and vowed: "We will get the perpetrators, no matter how long it takes." |
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