Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh have thrown Saudi Arabia into turmoil, forcing its leaders to acknowledge that they may have been too complacent about terrorism. U.S. officials said more attacks could be ahead, warning Americans in Jiddah to take extra precautions.
Saudi soldiers and armed guards set up new checkpoints, searched cars and quizzed drivers by the hundreds as security was tightened throughout the jittery capital of Riyadh. Bumper-to-bumper traffic caused by the security checks stretched for miles.
The increased vigilance came after U.S. criticism that the Saudis had not done enough to prevent Monday’s al-Qaida-linked suicide bombings that killed 34 people, including eight Americans.
U.S. Ambassador Robert Jordan said was a “very clear suggestion that this attack was aimed at undermining the government as much as it was aimed at American interests.”
Two of the compounds housed employees of the Saudi national guard, headed by Crown Prince Abdullah, and air force workers in the Defense Ministry, which is led by Prince Sultan. Both are brothers of King Fahd. The third complex is owned by the deputy governor of Riyadh, second only to the governor, Prince Salman, also a brother of the king.
Islamic cleric Sheik Yousef al-Aamer, who conducted Friday’s noon prayers at the Amir Saad bin Mohammed Mosque, condemned the attacks.
Quoting from the Quran during a sermon, the imam said the bombings were against the teachings of Islam.
“Those who conducted these acts are nonbelievers. They have attacked Muslims who are their own people and people of other faiths who are innocent and could not defend themselves. Hellfire awaits them,” he said at the mosque in Oraija, one of Riyadh’s poorest districts.
Prince Mohammed Saad from the Interior Ministry, who attended the prayers, said he was convinced “a foreign hand” was involved in the strikes. Earlier, Saudi officials said 15 Saudis - including nine who were killed - carried out the attacks.
Late Thursday, U.S. officials warned Americans of possible attacks in Saudi Arabia’s busy Red Sea port of Jiddah.
"(We have) received an unconfirmed report that a possible terrorist attack in the al-Hamra district of Jiddah may occur in the near future,” the warning said. “U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance.”
An American official who spoke on condition of anonymity said intelligence “indicated that there was going to be a stream of attacks, and so we have confidence that has begun.”
In the Philippines, police said Friday they were looking for a Filipino worker who claimed in a radio interview that he was offered money in Saudi Arabia to bomb one of the residential compounds targeted this week.
The man, who refused to be identified, told Manila radio station DZMM that he befriended Arab-looking men who offered him a large sum of money in exchange for planting a bomb. He said he returned to the Philippines in April for fear of his life.
Saudi officials say the attacks are linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, which has long vowed to rid Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, of any Western influence.
“This organization has always had the Saudi government in their sights,” said Alex Standish, the editor of Jane’s Intelligence Digest in London. “By targeting specifically foreigners working within the kingdom, it’s ... economic sabotage.” Saudi Arabia is home to 6 million expatriate workers, including about 35,000 Americans and 30,000 Britons.
Standish said the American response - advising U.S. citizens to leave - is provoking “exactly what al-Qaida wants, which is an exodus of foreign labor.” Saudi officials were criticized for doing too little to combat militancy ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks, which also were blamed on al-Qaida. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia.
Beginning April 29, Jordan sent three letters to the Saudi Interior Ministry requesting enhanced security at residential compounds. His May 7 letter came a day after a raid on a terrorist safe house near Jadawal, one of the three compounds attacked Monday.
The Washington Post reported that the view from the second floor of the safe house allowed the presumed attackers to case the Jadawal compound.
Some U.S experts are concerned the Saudis will limit American access to suspects and evidence, as they did after the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, which killed 19 U.S. personnel.
But Jordan said he expects good cooperation from the Saudis. An FBI team arrived in the kingdom Thursday to determine what help is needed in the investigation. Jordan believes that the Saudi-born bin Laden and al-Qaida may have lost some support in the kingdom because of Monday’s attacks.
“I think in some ways they have hurt themselves here,” Jordan said. “They have gone too far and they have soiled the nest.”
Other experts on terror disagreed.
“The fact that bin Laden has survived so long despite the fact that the world’s last superpower is hunting him ... is building up quite a harmful myth among al-Qaida supporters that this organization is under some kind of divine protection,” said Standish.
“He is almost (seen as) the new Saladdin who is fighting this reverse crusade against the West.”