Saudi's admit security lapses led to Riyadh bombings

Saudi Arabia acknowledged gaps in security and revealed that 15 Saudis carried out the deadly car bomb attacks in Riyadh – a startling admission considering the Arab kingdom took five months to confirm most of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers were Saudi.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also said yesterday that this week’s attacks, blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, were designed to drive away foreigners, but he insisted Saudi Arabia is safer now than before the car bombings.

Still, some foreigners went ahead with plans to leave following the attacks on Monday night, which targeted three residential compounds where expatriate executives and professionals live, killing 34 people – including nine attackers - and injuring nearly 200.

“I’m terrified and I’m really scared. I think we need a break from all of this,” said Tanya Scott, a 36-year-old Australian flight attendant.

The British School in Riyadh, located in one of the targeted compounds, closed and some teachers left.

The US Embassy was closed for security reasons yesterday and the US State Department ordered home non-essential diplomats and family members.

Britain advised its citizens not to travel to Saudi Arabia unless absolutely necessary.

In a statement posted on its web site, the British Foreign Office said there remained a “high threat” of further strikes and warned of the possibility of chemical and biological attacks.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker put the US toll at eight dead and 17 wounded – at least one critically.

Saudi Arabia relies greatly on its population of six million expatriate workers, including around 30,000 Britons and 35,000 Americans, in its communications, power, technology, banking and other sectors. The kingdom counts on many US experts for its oil industry.

Saudi officials, stung by criticism that they did too little to combat militancy ahead of the September 11 terrorist attacks, have taken pains to show unusual openness and determination in the wake of Monday’s attacks.

Crown Prince Abdullah went on national television on Tuesday, vowing to “put an end” to those behind the attacks.

Along with reassuring foreign business, the kingdom’s leadership is eager to see that the attacks do not strain ties with Washington, where some blame the kingdom’s strict version of Islam for breeding the likes of Saudi-born bin Laden and the September 11 hijackers.

Later yesterday in an interview with CNN, the Saudi ambassador to the US, said the Saudis would be relentless in tracking down the attackers, even though most of them were from the kingdom.

“We have lots of evidence that this group is from al-Qaida. And we are determined to fight them because they are against, not just Americans.

"They're against Saudis, Arabs, Muslims. ... We are going to go after them until we put an end to this evil cancer,” Prince Bandar bin Sultan said.

The attacks came as the US was withdrawing most of its 5,000 troops from Saudi Arabia, a presence bin Laden has used as a pretext for attacks.

Bin Laden contends the US military presence in Saudi Arabia since the first gulf war defiles holy soil because the country is guardian of Islam’s most sacred shrines at Mecca and Medina.

“Saudi Arabia must deal with the fact it has terrorists inside its own country,” US presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

“Their presence is as much a threat to Saudi Arabia as it is to Americans.”

US Ambassador Robert Jordan said the US sought in vain before Monday’s attacks to get security tightened around Western residential compounds in Riyadh amid warnings of possible attacks.

“As soon as we learned of this particular threat information, we contacted the Saudi government,” Mr Jordan said on CBS television yesterday.

“We continue to work with the Saudis on this, but they did not, as of the time of this tragic event, provide the additional security we requested.”

Prince Bandar acknowledged the request in interviews on CBS and ABC television, but suggested that Jordan requested security for only one compound - and that Saudi security successfully protected foreigners at the site.

“He asked for increased security at a certain compound,” Prince Bandar told CBS News.

“We have passed it to the right authority, and that compound that he was concerned about was the only place that the evil people who did this attack did not cause injuries except killing the Saudi guards.”

Prince Bandar was apparently referring to the attack on the Eshbiliya complex, where two Saudis were killed.

Prince Saud admitted there were security lapses, saying Saudis should “look within themselves and see whether we have done enough to preserve the security of our nation”.

Asked whether that was an admission of lapses in security, Saud said: “The fact that the terrorism happened is an indication of shortcomings and we have to learn from our mistakes and seek to improve our performance in this respect.”

Saud insisted the attacks would not hurt US-Saudi ties, saying countries who are terror victims “feel sympathy for each other”.

He refused to give details on the 15 Saudis he said took part in the attacks or say what happened to the six who survived.

“Ironically it was 15 Saudis who did what they did in America and 15 Saudis who did what they did in Saudi Arabia,” Saud said.

Of the September 11 hijackers, 15 were Saudi and four were from other Arab countries.

“Certainly it goes to the heart of the argument that nobody could accuse us of being responsible for attacking our country,” he added.

Saud refused to respond to a question on how much authority an FBI team that’s heading to the kingdom will have, an issue that could become contentious if the Americans feel they are not getting full co-operation.

Washington and Riyadh have been at odds in the past over how to handle terror investigations, including probes into the deadly 1996 Khobar Towers attacks in which the US expressed frustration at the lack of access to witnesses and suspects.

Some 2,000 Saudi civil defence workers searched for evidence at the sites of Monday’s attacks.

Investigators wearing surgical gloves checked the rubble at the al-Hamra compound in north-eastern Riyadh, where a car-bomb left a crater 20ft wide and 3ft deep.

The Saudi government has said the attacks are connected to 19 al-Qaida operatives who engaged in a gunfight with police in Riyadh on May 6 and escaped, though one later surrendered.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the 19 are believed to take orders directly from bin Laden.

Besides the eight Americans, those killed Monday were seven Saudis, three Filipinos, two Jordanians, and one each from Australia, Britain, Ireland, Lebanon and Switzerland, according to the Interior Ministry.

Prince Saud insisted the kingdom is “a more secure environment after the attack”.

More checkpoints can be seen on the streets and some hotels have posted guards to search luggage.

Asked whether the attacks were driving out foreigners, Saud said: “This is the intent of the perpetrators.

“Those who leave we don’t blame them. Those who have friends here will sorely miss them. But we hope ... if they go they only go for a short time and come back,” said Saud.

Mike Thomas, a 28-year-old tennis instructor from Wales who visited one of the targeted compounds to check on his students, said he was “very angry and very hurt. I can’t live here anymore”.

He added: “Those people who have done this believe in nothing but hatred.”

But Andy Smith, a 35-year-old British banking consultant, said he was staying.

“It’s obviously not nice but life goes on,” he said. ”We had the IRA blowing things up in London so we’re used to terrorist activities.”