Three al Qaeda members planned to hijack a Saudi plane and crash it into a building in Jeddah, CNN reported Wednesday, citing Saudi security sources.
The plan was foiled late Monday when three suspects, were detained at a Saudi airport before boarding a flight to Sudan, the report added. According to Reuters, the three were Moroccans.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced that three al-Qaeda members had been arrested in Jeddah and that one was “cooperating”. “He is talking to security officials,” an official said.
Based on intelligence alerts, the United States, the UK, Germany and Italy closed on Wednesday their embassies and diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia.
“We have received credible information that further terrorist attacks against unspecified targets in Saudi Arabia are being planned and may take place imminently,” the British Foreign Office said, explaining the decision to close the consulates.
Saudi opposition
On its part, the Saudi opposition argued Wednesday the credibility of the Saudi authorities' claim that they have found clues that might lead them to the bombers who executed the terror attacks in Riyadh last week. It also warned that should the government make good on its recent declaration about its determination to counter the Islamic movements, which al Qaeda is at its center, Saudi Arabia could end up in confrontation with the “foundation” of the state’s current system.
Last week, suicide bombers suspected of having ties with al Qaeda killed 34 people in a series of terror attacks that hit the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the Saudi opposition group The Islamic Reform Movement’s head, Sa’ad al Faqih, dismissed the Saudi government’s claims of discovering clues that might lead to the bombers.
“As far as we know…from our informed sources within the Saudi security apparatus, the government has not been able to discover anything important regarding the explosions…or anything else that might help in preventing future operations. All the measures being taken now are just inspections everywhere without any specific findings,” Faqih told Al Bawaba in a telephone conversation from his London headquarters.
He added, “The security services have been instructed to inspect any person with religious tendencies and arrest anyone that is suspect. There has been nothing more than that.”
According to Faqih, the Saudi government was quick to blame al Qaeda for the attacks at a time when the terrorist organization has shown restraint from carrying attacks within the kingdom.
“Bin Laden has moved away from his previous policy of not executing attacks inside the kingdom that target the regime, not because he did not want to, but because he felt that the Saudi public would not accept them,” said Faqih.
However, Faqih believes that the Saudi public is indifferent now to such attempts amid the administrative and financial corruption, unemployment, poverty and oppression the Saudi public live under. “People in Saudi Arabia who try to show opposition to the status quo using peaceful means end up in prison, and so they find very few options available to them,” he added.
Faqih also slammed the Saudi government over its claim of ‘reforms’, saying, “We saw nothing except king Fahed’s vague address before the Shura Council.”
“The Islamic movements are deeply rooted in Saudi Arabia and the government did not dare counter them in the past - with words or actions…in general, the government will prove to be the loser,” explained Faqih. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
