Posted on 08/28/2009 12:23:24 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A suicide bomber detonated explosives hidden inside his mobile phone on Friday in an attempt to assassinate the head of Saudi Arabia’s antiterrorism efforts, the official news agency reported from the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister who is widely credited with orchestrating a harsh crackdown against Al Qaeda militants in the kingdom, was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. He was later shown on Saudi television meeting with the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah.
Prince Nayef is the son of the interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz , who is third in line to the Saudi throne. He has been titular head of the ministry since 1975, but his son is known to have day-to-day operational control of the country’s antiterrorism efforts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, although Al Qaeda was almost certain to come under suspicion. The interior ministry announced last week that 44 suspected Qaeda terrorists have been arrested this year. And six weeks ago, in secret trials, more than 300 militants, many with alleged ties to the Qaeda network, were tried and convicted. S.P.A., the official news agency, said some received prison terms of 30 years.
A report in Arabic on the Saudi TV station Al Arabiya said the bomber entered Prince Nayef’s home in the city of Jidda on Friday as people were gathering for an evening meal to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. There were conflicting reports that the man was a fugitive militant and had come to the prince’s home to surrender.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Security @ the ministry isn’t ridgid by any stretch of the imagination. One improperly tuned metal detector and a badge activated rotating door... Not ridgid
A metal detector wouldn't detect the explosive in a cell phone.
A xray maybe but ironically a well trained dog would have been the best trained detector/defense but since dogs are not popular with Muslim society the prince was lucky this time
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