Bomb Blasts in Saudi Arabia Prior to Powell's Visit - Suspect : Al-Qaeda

Update: The Guardian reports:

Suicide bombers have killed up to 10 people and wounded more than 60 today in a series of attacks targeting foreigners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, official sources said today.

The US ambassador to the country, Robert Jordan, told BBC radio: "There are preliminary reports of upwards of 40 Americans in hospital and considerable numbers of other nationalities in hospital and very likely fatalities in the two to 10 range."

An official at the British embassy in Riyadh said: "We believe there are a small number of British nationals who have been injured, not seriously. We are just confirming their identities at the moment."

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Three consecutive powerful explosions exploded in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia on Monday night (12th May) targeting four compunds housing Americans and westerners. Officials suspect the bombings had all the prints of Al-Qaeda. A fourth explosion was reported but unconfirmed.

Zafir Jamaal reports:

According to diplomatic sources, the housing complexes at Courdoval, Jedawal, and The Hamra were hit. Death toll is expected to rise as details become clear.

One person killed was said to be the son of a high-ranking Saudi official. More than 40 Americans have been treated for injuries at Riyadh hospitals, said Robert Jordan, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.. He said there were unconfirmed reports of "a couple of American deaths."


Some of the residents of the compounds were western defense contractors, and others were advisers to the Saudi Arabia National Guard and other military units. The assailants shot their way into the upscale, gated communities before detonating vehicles loaded with explosives. The blasts occurred about 11 p.m. [4 p.m. EDT] on the eve of a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to the city.

There was a call for revenge attacks on US interests on Sunday (11th May) by a Saudi Islamist group following a huge arms seizure from Islamic militants in Riyadh last week.

In a statement carried on the alsaha.net website, the Mujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula urged its followers to “strike and destroy American interests on land, at sea and in the air” in retaliation for the seizure of the weapons and explosives following a shootout in the Saudi capital last Tuesday. It said: “We are preparing to take our revenge ..... It is our duty to prepare the means to terrorise the enemy.”

Another explosion targeted the premises of Venyl, an American consultancy for the Saudi National Guard, which is headed by Crown Prince Abdullah, witnesses said. The building, in the Janadriyah district also in eastern Riyadh, houses both the offices and residences of Venyl personnel. Ambulances were again sent to the scene, where a fire had broken out.

MEANWHILE in AFGHANISTAN

About 150 students from the Air Force and Air Defense University staged demonstrations Saturday, May 10, 2003 in Kabul, Afghanistan to protest against the government's plan to transfer them to civilian universities. (AP Photo/Amir Shah)

Husbanullah Muttawakel reports from Kabul: In the capital of Kabul,hundreds of students from the Military University demonstrated Sunday, May 11, in front of the Presidential palace in Kabul against President Hamid Karzai and U.S. policies in Afghanistan for the second day in a row.

Students shouted saying "death to Karzai" and "death to the Americans" while international peace-keeping forces and Afghani police looked on, according to the Afghani Shahadat newspaper

Students of the military university protested the decision of the transition government to close the university, which is part of a plan in which the U.S. administration in Afghanistan would form a small Afghani army of 70,000 officers and soldiers only. Such an army would not have air or artillery forces. The U.S. troops would train the army without the need of the military educational specialized institutions in Afghanistan.

The demonstrators had also called upon the government to provide job opportunities, improve economic situation and start the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The source added that the student of Kabul University had also staged another demonstration against the transitional government, headed by Hamid Karzai.

Tension had been building lately between the U.S. forces and the Northern Alliance, particularly its military wing, headed by Marshal Mohammed Fahim, Minister of Defense in the transitional government. Some analysts believe the Northern Alliance's military wing is in involved in the demonstrations.

Drivers shout slogans against the Afghan government in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 12, 2003. Several hundred Afghans afraid of losing government jobs staged a protest on the edge of the capital. The protests are becoming more frequent in Kabul amid signs of growing unrest and impatience with government progress in reconstructing Afghanistan

The last few weeks have witnessed several demonstrations, in which large numbers of the Afghans participated to protest against weak security measures and bad economic situation in the country.

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