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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Information that a Western housing compound here was being surveyed by terrorists appeared to be based on a videotape of the residential complex found during a raid of a militant hide-out, the manager of the housing facility said Thursday. Richard May said the management of the Seder Village was notified more than a week ago by the Saudi National Guard that the tape had been discovered during a raid on terrorist suspects. "We don't know exactly what was on this tape. We never saw it, but we were informed by the Saudis that there were...

Police detain a man suspected in Nov. 8 Riyadh suicide bombing, first arrest in connection to attack.

Saudi official blames 'foreigners' for terror Prince implies al-Qaida not responsible for recent attacks Posted: December 1, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Prince Abdul Rahman, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of defense and aviation, says "foreign hands" are behind the Riyadh bombings that left scores dead – implying the attacks were not the work of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network but rather nations opposing the country's strict adherence to Islamic law and which want to impose foreign domination upon the kingdom. He called on the armed forces to be ready to defend the country against foreign interference with all...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Officials have identified the two bombers in a suicide attack that killed 17 people at a Riyadh housing compound, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Monday. The agency, quoting an unnamed Interior Ministry official, said DNA tests confirmed that Ali bin Hamid Elmabady Alharbi and Nasser bin Abdullah bin Nasser Alsiary attacked the housing complex of mostly Arab and Muslim residents, injuring 120 people. The agency said the two men, both of them Saudis, had been wanted by Saudi authorities in other security-related cases. It did not elaborate. The official was also quoted as saying that...

American reactions to the recent bombing of a foreign workers' compound in Riyadh reveal multiple misreadings of the Arab world and — more dangerously — of both al Qaeda and the Saudis. The media seem to equate Arab with Muslim and, along with some in the administration, think that al Qaeda's war is against Americans and Westerners per se, rather than against all "infidels," a group al Qaeda defines idiosyncratically and expansively as anyone who is not a strictly observant Muslim. Both mistakes are compounded by reliance on the Saudis' distorted account of the attack. The November 8 bombing took...

RIYADH (Reuters) - A senior al Qaeda militant orchestrated the bombing of a residential compound in Saudi Arabia earlier this month by telephone from Iran, a Saudi newspaper says. Okaz newspaper, quoting informed sources on Sunday, said the militant network's security chief Saif al-Adel gave orders for the attack in the capital Riyadh by satellite phone. Neither Saudi nor Iranian officials were immediately available to comment on the Okaz report. "The sources said Saif al-Adel led the bombing operation of the Muhaya residential compound, using a Thuraya phone to give instructions to the terrorists in the kingdom who carried out...

<p>THE blood that the bombers of al Qaeda shed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh belonged primarily to Lebanese, Egyptian and other Arab families observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. They were victims of a well-planned mass murder that has brought al Qaeda's war home, where it will be won or lost. The U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have put a misleading veneer on the overlapping political and civil wars that have roiled the Persian Gulf region for three decades. These conflicts swirl within Islam and within individual nations of the greater Middle East, which must finally come to terms with the direct dangers posed by al Qaeda and its loose network of nihilistic terrorists.</p>

DUBAI (Reuters) - A purported statement by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network denied it was behind last Sunday's deadly bombing in Saudi Arabia and warned it would carry out a new attack on a major U.S. city within two years. The statement, carried on Islamist Web site al-Mojahedun (holy fighters), also said that the militant group was behind all attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites). It was not possible to independently verify the authenticity of the statement, which used the Islamic calendar and had the language and style that is very...

<p>The blood that the bombers of al Qaeda shed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh belonged primarily to Lebanese, Egyptian and other Arab families observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. They were victims of a well-planned mass murder that has brought al Qaeda's war home, where it will be won or lost.</p>

Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic, official television station of the Saudi Government, at 0915 GMT, 14 November 2003 carries a 23-minute live sermon from the Holy Mosque in Mecca. An unidentified shaykh delivers the sermon. He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions and advises people to obey God, stressing that the blessed month of Ramadan is a month of worshipping and love for God and his messenger. He also urges Muslims to treat one another well. The imam devotes the first sermon to obedience to God as a way to success. In the second...

The United States reopened its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a week after they closed because of terrorist threats. "We do believe that it is now safe to conduct public business," said the spokeswoman of the US Embassy in Riyadh, Carol Kalin. "We continue to monitor the situation and we will make announcements to the Americans as the developments warrant." The embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jiddah and Dhahran closed Nov. 8, hours before suicide bombers attacked a Riyadh residential compound, killing at least 17 people and wounding 122. On Saturday, an armored vehicle was parked...

WASHINGTON, Nov 15, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The Nov. 8th car bombing of a housing compound in Riyadh has damaged al-Qaida's legitimacy, possibly irreparably, in the "Arab Street." Seventeen people were killed, five of the victims were children and another 122 were injured. The majority of the victims were Egyptian or Lebanese. An insurgency is almost by definition a battle for the hearts and minds of the people. Al-Qaida's credibility (its perceived ability to conduct successful operations) had already taken a beating with the thrashing it received in Afghanistan. Now, its legitimacy (the group's perceived righteousness) has...

DUBAI (Reuters) - A purported statement by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network denied it was behind Sunday's deadly bombing in Saudi Arabia and warned it would carry out a new attack on a major U.S. city within two years. The statement, carried on Islamist Web site al-Mojahedun (holy fighters), also said that the militant group was behind all attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement, written in language similar to previous al Qaeda claims. But the Web site has in the past carried alleged statements by Saudi-born bin Laden's...

Four of the most dangerous Islamic terrorist groups have condemned last week’s al-Qaeda attack on the Mahia complex in Riyadh, which claimed the lives of at least 17 people, including Muslims. Though other terrorist attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda have resulted in the deaths of Muslims, including scores of Muslims in the 1998 Embassy bombings in east Africa, this is the first time where several terrorist groups have released similar statements condemning an attack in which there were Muslim casualties. Vocalizing very rare criticism of al-Qaeda, designated terrorist groups Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Egyptian Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, and Hizballah...

RIYADH, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A senior Saudi cleric in Mecca launched a strong condemnation on Friday of the suspected al Qaeda bombers who struck the kingdom this week by comparing their actions to Israeli "terrorism" against the Palestinians. Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudeis, preacher at Mecca's Grand Mosque, told worshippers before Friday prayers that those who killed at least 18 people, mostly expatriate Arabs, at a housing complex in Riyadh were seeking to sow strife among Muslims. "Is the terrorism of Israel and the terrorism of those (militants) linked?" Sudeis asked in an address broadcast live on Saudi state television. "Is...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The bombing that killed 17 people in the Saudi capital is intensifying pressure for democratic reform in Saudi Arabia, and is likely to undercut the militants' support among Arabs who previously sympathized to some degree with their goals. While some have rejoiced over Saturday's suicide car bombing, many in the Arab world are shocked that it targeted Arabs and Muslims. The bombing — the work of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, according to U.S. and Saudi officials — hit a housing compound in Riyadh that the attackers must have known houses Arab families. As a result,...

Saudi Arabia vowed to talk to Islamist militants fighting to overthrow the regime only with guns or swords, spurning a move by Muslim clerics to mediate in a bid to stop further suicide bombings. "We can talk to them only with the gun and the sword," Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said. The hardline message offered no hope of compromise after the Al-Qaeda terror network claimed responsibility for killing 17 people and wounding 122 more -- nearly all of them Arabs - at a Riyadh housing compound at midnight Saturday. It also threatened more attacks. "Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility...

The month of Ramadan when Muslims all over the world ask God for forgiveness and mercy; the month when the Qur’an came down with the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him); the month of prayers, patience, harmony, and good deeds has turned into a deadly series of terrorist blasts in Makkah and Riyadh. Police forces raided a terrorist cell in Al-Sharei district in Makkah foiling an attack on pilgrims and seizing a large cache of weapons and explosives. A few days later, and perhaps for the first time in our country, two terrorist incidents happen simultaneously...

The al-Qa'ida-backed bombings in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, and President George W. Bush's landmark speech on the US's new determination to promote democracy in the Middle East, represent a potentially decisive moment in the history of the Middle East. For decades, US policy towards the Middle East has rested on two pillars: support for Israel and support for stability in the region. While urging its Arab allies to behave better on human rights, Washington has historically not pressured them to democratise. As a result, it has been seen by the regional populations to be supporting dictators. It is easy...

<p>Schadenfreude, taking pleasure in the misfortunes of your enemies, is not nice. It's not compatible with either Jewish ethics or Christian morality. Principled atheists know better.</p> <p>But the Saudis, who nurtured 15 of the 19 men who plotted and executed the outrage of September 11 that we can never forget or forgive, can't expect us not to notice that they're getting theirs. Just deserts in the desert, an insensitive man might be tempted to say.</p>