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Saudi Arabia: Blasts Kill 3 Before Powell's Saudi Visit - 3 Dead, 60 Injured in Shootings, Bombings
ABC NEWS ^ | May 13 , 2003 | The Associated Press

Posted on 05/12/2003 10:44:45 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach



(AP Photo)
Blasts Kill 3 Before Powell's Saudi Visit
3 Dead, 60 Injured in Shootings, Bombings in Saudi Capital Hours Before Visit By Colin Powell

The Associated Press


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia May 13

Hours before a visit by the American secretary of state, attackers shot their way into three gated compounds housing Westerners in Saudi Arabia's capital and set off car bombs. At least three people were killed and about 60 injured, officials said.

The string of attacks occurred in quick succession Monday night, capped by a fourth explosion early Tuesday outside the headquarters of a joint U.S.-Saudi owned company in Riyadh.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that three people were confirmed dead but gave no other details.

U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Robert Jordan, told CNN that 40 of the injured were Americans and said there were unconfirmed reports "of a couple of American deaths."

Hospital officials in Riyadh told The Associated Press that at least 50 wounded were taken to the National Guard Hospital, and other hospitals reported at least 10 injured and one dead.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was expected to arrive in Riyadh Tuesday as scheduled, according to American officials in Jordan, Amman. Powell, who already has visited Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan on a Mideast tour, was to meet Saudi leaders to seek help in harnessing militant groups and in promoting Palestinian reform.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but American officials said they suspected Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. An intelligence official in Washington said information from the past two weeks indicated al-Qaida was planning a strike in Saudi Arabia.

"(Al-Qaida) is certainly a prime suspect, I would say," Jordan said on CNN.

Saudi officials also have said al-Qaida was planning attacks in the oil-rich kingdom, which is bin Laden's birthplace and home to Islam's holiest sites. Saudi Arabian men also made up 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.

The blasts came as the United States is pulling out most of the 5,000 troops it had based in Saudi Arabia, whose presence fueled anti-American sentiment. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that most would be gone by the end of the summer.

Bin Laden has used the presence of U.S. soldiers in the kingdom the birthplace of Islam as a rallying call for attacks on U.S. interests worldwide.

In Monday night's attacks, gunmen in three cars shot their way into the three residential compounds before setting off explosives in the vehicles, a Saudi official said on condition of anonymity.

The official said it was not known if the gunmen killed themselves in the blasts or fled.

Smoke rose into the night sky from one of the attacked compounds, located in the Garnata neighborhood in eastern Riyadh, and a helicopter circled overhead, scanning the ground with a searchlight. Hundreds of anti-riot police and members of the elite National Guard were evacuating the area and sealing it off as ambulances rushed in.

"We don't know how many are injured, but we received 50 and the number is growing," an official at the National Guard Hospital in Riyadh told The Associated Press by telephone, without identifying himself. "We're very busy, we are receiving a lot of casualties."

The wealthy gated communities that were attacked house corporate executives and other professionals. About half of the residents were Westerners and the rest were Saudis and other Arabs, a Saudi official said.

State Department officials said the American school in Riyadh likely will be closed Tuesday, and advised Americans to remain at home until further notice. Earlier this month, it had advised Americans earlier against traveling to Saudi Arabia because of increased terrorism concerns.

Justice Department and FBI officials said they were monitoring the situation but had no immediate indication that other attacks might be planned against U.S. interests at home or abroad.

Witnesses at the Garnata compound said the force of the blast shook nearby buildings and rattled windows. Witnesses also reported hearing gunfire moments before the car exploded. The compound is owned by Riyadh's deputy governor, Abdullah al-Blaidh.

The names of the other two Western compounds attacked were not immediately known.

An American who lives in one of the targeted areas compounds told the AP in an e-mail exchange from Riyadh that there was extensive damage to property and that he believed there had been some deaths.

Three Boeing Co. employees were slightly injured by flying glass, said Boeing spokesman Bob Jorgensen. They are among a group of 12 Boeing instructors training Saudi Air Force on operating Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) jets, the spokesman said in Seattle.

The fourth blast went off at the headquarters of the Saudi Maintenance Company, also known as Siyanco, early Tuesday morning. The company is a joint-owned venture between Frank E. Basil, Inc., of Washington, and local Saudi partners, the officials reported.

A previously unknown Saudi group, the Mujahedeen in the Arabian Peninsula, earlier vowed on an Internet site to strike against American targets worldwide but it was not clear whether the explosions in Riyadh were linked to the group.

Last week, a senior Saudi security official said suspected terrorists were receiving orders directly from bin Laden and had been planning attacks in Saudi Arabia targeting the royal family as well as American and British interests. The prime targets were the defense minister, Prince Sultan, and his brother, the interior minister, Prince Nayef, the official said.

On May 6, Saudi security forces seized a large cache of weapons and explosives in Riyadh when searching for a number of suspected terrorists, an unidentified government official told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

At least 19 men, including 17 Saudis, an Iraqi holding both Kuwaiti and Canadian citizenship, and a Yemeni, were being sought in connection with the terror plots, the agency reported.

Their names and pictures were shown on state-run Saudi television, and a reward of more than $50,000 was offered to anyone turning in any of the suspects.

A week earlier, an American civilian working for the Saudi Royal Navy was attacked and slightly injured in eastern Saudi Arabia.

In 1996, a truck bombing killed 19 Americans at the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran.

In 1995, a car bomb exploded at a U.S.-run military training facility in Riyadh. Seven people died, including five American advisers to the Saudi National Guard. The Islamic Movement for Change and two smaller groups in the region claimed responsibility.


photo credit and caption:

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this image made from television Tuesday, May 13, 2003. Four explosions rocked Riyadh late Monday and early Tuesday, including a car packed with explosions that rammed into a residential compound housing westerners, injuring about 50 people, hospital and security officials said. (AP Photo/Al Arabiya via APTN)



TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bombings; casualties; riyadh; riyadhbombing; saudiarabia
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To: Betty Jo
When I was in Saudi my step father worked for Basil Intairdrill. Google or Yahoo " Intairdrill " and look for articles on Yvonne Fletcher.
41 posted on 05/13/2003 8:56:04 AM PDT by chantal7
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
Fox news just said that the count is 91 deal, 7 americans!
42 posted on 05/13/2003 8:58:55 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Where is Saddam? and his Weapons of Mass Destruction?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
I just heard 91 on the radio... but they said the break down of nationality was not known.
43 posted on 05/13/2003 9:02:54 AM PDT by kjam22
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Any news about massive ghoulish celebrations on the Arab Street--like in Ramallah, Gaza, etc.?

I despise Islamofascists. Some day the civilized world will have to take the ignorant, barbaric, evil SOB's all out. That includes their brainwashed women and children if they get in the way. As if Islamofascists don't target innocent civilians ON PURPOSE. They started it. Last one standing wins. My bet is on the big guns. (Wasn't it Patton who said "God is on the side of the big guns" or something like that?)
44 posted on 05/13/2003 9:11:52 AM PDT by demnomo
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Of course, I'm not holding my breath for the big guns to be used on the Saudis--as much as I believe that they are largely responsible for funding and encouraging terrorism because it jives with their 7th Century fanatical mentality and foments their brand of Islamic Whabbism.

Civilized, logical people will have to find an alternative to oil. I'm not saying this as an enviromental whacko. As long as the Islamofascist barbarians are rolling in the oil dough given to them willingly or by way of covert religious extortion, terrorism and forced Islamofascist conquest and subjugation will worm its blood-soaked way into the civilized world.
45 posted on 05/13/2003 9:20:11 AM PDT by demnomo
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks for ths ping and the info.
46 posted on 05/13/2003 9:47:59 AM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: demnomo
Civilized, logical people will have to find an alternative to oil.

I think it's a lot cheaper and easier for the government to just take over the oil fields in the middle east and take the oil. Give them $5 per barrell, sell it to refiners in the U.S. for $20. ($20 is a nice price that American companies can compete with and make a profit) Government keeps the extra $15 per barrell and 1)pays down the national debt. 2) Offsets needed tax cuts. 3) Funds medicare and medicade. 4) invests in infrastructure.

47 posted on 05/13/2003 11:24:56 AM PDT by kjam22
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To: Bobby777
Question: Will Saudi Arabia be holding a telethon to raise money for the families of these terrorists? ... just wondering ...

No, they'll just hire another bootlicking DC public relations firm and make some new PSAs about how loving and peaceful they are - and how Americans are their absolutely favorite people. Right.

48 posted on 05/13/2003 11:56:18 AM PDT by valkyrieanne
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To: aristeides
An article says that the "Vinnell Building was the target, not the headquarters for the Saudi Maintenance Company, which I think is the maintenance company mentioned in the Bin Laden Group of comapnies.

The two, Vinnell, and Siyanco have various spellings.
49 posted on 05/13/2003 1:15:09 PM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: Betty Jo; All
Al-Qaida fingerprints seen in Saudi car bomb attacks that kill 20, injured scores .
50 posted on 05/13/2003 2:17:20 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: All
Saudi Arabia's Uncivil War.
51 posted on 05/13/2003 2:41:41 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: twntaipan
I should hope that Saudi Arabia would cooperate more in the fight against terror. They will.

Let me correct that. They had better do so.

52 posted on 05/13/2003 10:48:51 PM PDT by He Rides A White Horse (For or against us.........)
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To: demnomo
Of course, I'm not holding my breath for the big guns to be used on the Saudis--as much as I believe that they are largely responsible for funding and encouraging terrorism because it jives with their 7th Century fanatical mentality and foments their brand of Islamic Whabbism.

I disagree. Saudi Arabia is on that list you don't want to be on. Even if it is an unofficial list.

This President is not an idiot, and he knows what they are about.

53 posted on 05/13/2003 10:54:01 PM PDT by He Rides A White Horse (For or against us.........)
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To: demnomo
As I've said before, Saudi Arabia wants to hide behind Allah's skirt in its dealings, and that skirt is Mecca.

It's a game where they launch elaborate 'Friends of America, Friends for Fifty Years' PR campaigns, but at the same time incite their people against the West, and America in particular.

Enough of such nonsense. They should either stop such things, or learn firsthand what a five thousand pound bunker buster sounds like at ten yards.

54 posted on 05/13/2003 11:01:48 PM PDT by He Rides A White Horse (For or against us.........)
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To: aristeides; Fred Mertz; OKCSubmariner; Travis McGee
Well when will I see and hear all about Vinnell having been part of the Carlyle group until 1998 when they sold their controlling interest?

Who will tell me about Brown and Root and Vinnell?

I can't get the juiciest urls to work here, but google Vinnell and Saudi.

Shock and Awe !

55 posted on 05/14/2003 8:43:10 AM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: aristeides; Fred Mertz; OKCSubmariner; Travis McGee
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/dod/opm-sang.htm
56 posted on 05/14/2003 8:49:35 AM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: aristeides; Fred Mertz; OKCSubmariner; archy; Travis McGee
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/14/1052885292950.html
57 posted on 05/14/2003 9:02:44 AM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Why in hell do we keep relying on Saudi guards at these compounds? Makes no sense.
58 posted on 05/14/2003 9:09:20 AM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: aristeides; All
Some high strangeness here.

When the articles were saying that the fourth building was Siyanco, I searched it.

http://www.mgmtguru.com/resume.htm

SIYANCO,a joint venture of Frank E. Basil,Inc (Washington DC),and Fairview hospitals of Minnesota.A business venture in Middle East hospital management.

Then I see Saudi Medical Services/Charter Medical Corporation(a joint venture enterprise diversified into health services management,plant operations,private hospital,health care personnel training,consulting,and medical supplies and equipment) Riyadh

When I search Charter Medical Corporation I come up with Crescent Real Estate Equities and Richard Rainwater.

And George Bush.

Co-inky-dinky?

Why is Siyanco and Frank E Basil first identified as the fourth compound which has such a connction to Bush,and then Vinnell which was owned by Carlyle and Bush?

Why is there such a Saudi connection to one of the largest healthcare companies?

Who are the Saudis involved in SIYANCO?

59 posted on 05/15/2003 10:53:47 AM PDT by Betty Jo
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