18feb04
LONDON: Terrorists may be "in the final stages" of preparing more attacks in Saudi Arabia, the British Government warned yesterday as it advised UK citizens not to travel to the country.
The unusually strong statement followed the cancellation of a British Airways flight from London to the Saudi capital of Riyadh, which was grounded because of unspecified security fears.
"Following terrorist attacks in Riyadh in May and November 2003, we believe that terrorists remain determined to carry out further attacks in Saudi Arabia and that these may be in the final stages of preparation," the Foreign Office said on its website.
"We advise British nationals against all but essential travel to Saudi Arabia," it said in updated travel advice.
"The threat includes, but is not limited to, residential compounds," it added. "British Airways cancelled its 16 February BA 263 flight to Riyadh for security reasons."
The Foreign Office has issued a string of warnings to its citizens about Saudi Arabia in the wake of a series of attacks blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
On November 9, terrorists attacked the Muhayya residential compound in Riyadh, killing 18 people and injuring more than 80.
That attack followed co-ordinated bombings at residential compounds in Riyadh on May 12, which killed more than 30 people, including two British nationals.
On Friday, the Saudi interior ministry warned residents of the capital that a car carrying explosives and registered to a wanted suspect could be used in an attack.
The ministry urged residents to be on the alert, "especially since this misled group (of terror suspects) tends to hide these dangerous components in residential areas".
British Airways has been hit by a series of terrorism alerts this year, with flight 263 to Riyadh cancelled twice and one service from London to Washington grounded five times, with the latest scare at the weekend.
BA recently accepted in principal that it would allow armed air marshalls on its planes to guard against possible hijackings.
Earlier yesterday, representatives from the five leading European Union nations met in Germany to discuss the issue of the sky marshalls.
Interior ministers from Germany, France, Britain and Spain, along with Italian officials, gathered in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the meeting.
17feb04
RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin set sail today in the Arctic seas on board a nuclear submarine to oversee massive military exercises staged less than one month before presidential elections.
He went off into the Barents Sea - where the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in August 2000 and killed 118 seamen just months into Mr Putin's first term as president - yesterday evening to oversee what has been advertised as some of the largest war games staged by Russia in recent years.
News reports said they include six submarines carrying nuclear weapons. Tu-95 strategic bombers where due to test fire a cruise missile today over the Kola Peninsula on the north-western edge of Russia near the Finnish border.
The exercises also were due to include the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles from submarines and ground troops across Russia and onto military target sites in the country's Far East.
ITAR-TASS reported that the games - which were expected to last several weeks - would feature some 5000 servicemen.
Mr Putin was shown wearing navy gear yesterday evening as he boarded the Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine, Russia's largest.
He inspected the ship and dined with the crew in a move which only bolsters his tough-guy image among voters ahead of March 14 presidential elections.
The Kremlin press service said he spent the night on board the submarine with the seamen and was expected to stay there until this evening.
Russian military officials have repeatedly said on the eve of the war games that they were a regular test of the country's military readiness and not aimed as a show of force against the West.