The terrorists who launched multiple gun and bomb attacks on westerners in Riyadh were believed yesterday to be part of a group that escaped arrest during a botched raid by Saudi police a week ago.
At least 29 people — including the nine attackers — died when three massive, coordinated car bombs exploded at housing compounds in the Saudi capital, hours before the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, visited the kingdom yesterday.
The bombings — directed mainly against westerners — are being linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
The final death toll is still unknown, with the Saudi authorities confirming the death of seven Americans, seven Saudis, two Jordanians, two Filipinos, one Lebanese, one Swiss and the nine attackers.
The number of wounded was said last night to be about 194, among them six Britons.
As the total number of victims mounted, security experts painted a bleak picture of the Saudi authorities’ failure to catch militants who were known to be planning attacks. At least 19 al-Qaeda suspects who were under surveillance shot their way out of a police trap eight days ago, leaving behind vast quantities of explosives.
The gravity of the threat — apparently from a cell linked to al-Qaeda — was well known to the Saudis, who had also shared their knowledge with the US.
Robert Jordan, the US ambassador in Riyadh, emphasised these fears to wardens who look after expatriate community compounds at a meeting on May 3.
He told them the threat of terrorism in the kingdom had ”increased dramatically in the last short period of time”, according to a note of the meeting circulated by an employee of the Halliburton company who attended.
”The US state department has credible and verified information that major terrorist attacks within Saudi Arabia are in the last stages of planning and execution,” the note said.
The Halliburton employee added: ”In my three plus years of meeting with the ambassador I have not seen or heard of such dire warnings. He can not tell Americans what to do, but … he is recommending strongly for Americans to leave the kingdom.”
Security experts say the plot came to light by chance when an unidentified man blew himself up at a flat in the Jazirah district of Riyadh on March 7. Saudi officials suggested that he was a member or sympathiser of al-Qaeda who had been preparing a bomb which went off prematurely.
Grenades, pistols, assault rifles, ammunition and plastic explosives were also found in the house, along with quantities of cash and forged identity papers.
The trail from that incident led to an attempt last week to arrest at least 19 suspected militants in the Saudi capital, including 17 Saudis, an Iraqi holding Kuwaiti and Canadian citizenship, and a Yemeni.
”When the police swooped, the men came out shooting,” said Kevin Rosser, an analyst at security consultants Control Risks.
Some of the suspects tried to drive off in their own car but it would not start, so they hijacked another vehicle and disappeared, he said.
A search of the car and a flat where some of the men were staying revealed hand grenades, about 380kg of RDX explosive, AK-47 rifles, bullets, computers, communications equipment, travel documents, cash, and various items used for disguise, according to the Saudi authorities.
RDX is a military explosive (in this case probably of Soviet origin) used in small quantities as a booster for other explosives. The vast amount discovered showed that a large-scale attack — or series of attacks — had been planned.
While claiming that they had ”foiled” a plot, the embar rassed Saudi authorities hastily issued pictures of the escaped men and offered a reward of 300 000 riyals (£53 000) for information leading to their capture.
It was believed to be the third recent attempt to arrest militants where at least some of them had got away.
Last November an al-Qaeda suspect, Mohammed al-Sahim, was arrested after a gunfight but several others are believed to have escaped.
In January, a bystander was killed and at least two police officers were wounded in a failed attempt to arrest four armed men at a block of flats in al-Masyaf district of Riyadh.
A Saudi official with intelligence expertise said Monday’s attacks had probably been ”in the works for some time — at least two or three months”. This indicates they were being planned well before the recent announcement that US troops would leave the kingdom.
Several independent security experts draw a connection between the attacks and the failed round-up of suspects on May 6.
After the September 11 attacks in the US — where 15 of the hijackers were Saudis — the kingdom initially denied any al-Qaeda presence on its soil, but that has now changed.
The kingdom’s effective ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, last night rebuked the terrorists as ”criminals, butchers and devoid of all Islamic and humane principles”.
”If they think they can shake the security and safety in our country they are dreaming,” he said in a television address. – Guardian Unlimited Â