Details emerge on planning of Saudi blasts

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- As FBI agents combed through the wreckage of three Saudi housing compounds hit by suicide bombers last week, new details about the planning and execution of the attacks emerged Saturday.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the estimated 19 men who hit the Al Hamra Oasis Village, the Jadawel complex and the Vinnell compound late Monday had cased the facilities for weeks or months and knew precisely how to gain entry and do the most damage.

They rented villas and apartments near the compounds, where they studied the movements of those inside, he said. Before the assaults, they donned military uniforms to confuse guards at the gates.

At Vinnell, heavily guarded by Saudi National Guards, the attackers knew the gate codes used to get inside. They detonated their truck bomb in the most populated area of the facility.

"The guards at Vinnell were Saudi National Guardsmen with .50- caliber machine guns," the official said. "The attackers knew all the multiple controls at the gate. It wasn't like pushing a green button and the gate went up."

At Al Hamra, two lightly armed guards were gunned down by the assailants, who drove in, took a right and set off a pickup packed with explosives, devastating a wide swath of the complex and leveling 25 homes.

At Jadawel, where security had been stepped up recently after Saudi authorities found a cache of grenades, explosives and automatic weapons in a nearby house following a shootout with suspected al- Qaida members, guards managed to trap the attackers between two barriers.

"They got the bomb through the first barrier, but the guards in the booth had enough time to erect the second barrier," the official said. "The bomb vehicle got hung up on that. Whether they panicked or not, they triggered the explosion and that took out the guys with the guns behind them."

The U.S. official said that the assailants were highly motivated and received military training, probably in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida suspects in U.S. custody first revealed information about the plot, the official said.

"The detainees' information is very significant and gave us a lot of information about what was happening in Saudi Arabia," the official said.

Saudi authorities believe that nine attackers were killed in the gunfights and explosions Monday that left about three dozen people, including at least seven Americans, dead.

After the shootout with the suspects May 6, Saudi authorities took the highly unusual step of publishing the pictures of the wanted men in local newspapers. Some of their families came forward to say the men had gone to Afghanistan some time ago and had not been seen since. Until late 2001, the al-Qaida terrorist network had sanctuary in Afghanistan. Although U.S. military action there has eliminated the network's major bases, officials believe that remnants persist.

According to the U.S. official, top al-Qaida operatives have been divided over whether to stage attacks in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of their leader, Osama bin Laden. The terrorist network has been critical of Saudi rulers' ties to the United States.

"There seems to have been some debate within al-Qaida about whether they should carry out attacks inside Saudi Arabia," the official said. "This is a place where they can operate and raise money. As long as they operate in a certain way, they can move around in society. The faction that believed the regime was ripe for the picking won out. They figured the House of Saud would collapse like a house of cards."

Although the housing compounds that were attacked catered largely to Westerners, each had links to a powerful member of the ruling family.

Workers at Vinnell train the National Guard, headed by Crown Prince Abdullah. Residents of Jedawal are almost all contractors for the Saudi Air Force, run by Prince Sultan. One of the owners of Al Hamra is the deputy governor of Riyadh, who is associated closely with Prince Salman, brother of King Fahd.

"This wasn't a subtle message they were sending," the U.S. official said of the attackers. "This was Pearl Harbor for the House of Saud. I think we will see more attacks on the regime. Al-Qaida thinks the Al Sauds will eventually pack their suitcases with money and flee to Switzerland."

In remarks read Saturday at the start of a new session of the country's Shura Council, an appointed advisory body, the ailing King Fahd denounced the attacks.

Fahd also appealed to religious scholars to spread a message of tolerance and national unity. "It is mainly the responsibility of our good scholars who we are depending on ... to disseminate tolerance ... and to save our youth from the evils of destructive thought," said the king, who also pledged to accelerate reforms in the conservative Muslim nation.

The attacks have shaken Saudi society deeply. Newspapers and even some anti-American religious leaders have condemned the attacks. A national introspection is under way, something Americans have called for since the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

"This is a country where we prided ourselves on our nonviolence," said Khaled al-Maeena, editor and columnist for the English language Arab News. "I feel sad, like something inside me is broken. The spirit this country had, the feeling is gone. It is a good country despite what is written about it but these people have hijacked our religion, negating every aspect of Islam."

Others say the bombings might prove to be a watershed event.

"After 9-11, the regime wanted to do something for the Americans but they got no grass-roots support," said Michael Saba, an American consultant here who has written for Arab publications. "This incident has really turned that around. They are saying, 'These guys are coming after us now. This is our house and our guests they are attacking and that's not right.' There is a lot of soul-searching, and that is the most significant thing coming out of this."

While the bombings might result in long-term changes in the kingdom, the immediate possibility of more attacks remains perhaps the greatest concern. The United States has warned of a credible terrorist threat in the Saudi city of Jidda and has urged Americans to leave the country. The bombs that ripped through Casablanca, Morocco, on Friday, killing at least 41 people, only heightened anxiety here.

John Burgess, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, said the International Community School, where about 50 percent of the 1,400 students are U.S. citizens, has closed down a month early because of security fears.

The British School, located in the devastated Al Hamra complex, also shut down and sent its staff home.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the parent company of Vinnell, has released the names of eight of its nine employees killed in the attack on that compound.

The six U.S. citizens are: Obaidah Yusuf Abdullah, 32, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Todd Michael Bair, 37, Worchestershire, England; Jason Eric Bentley, 35, of Hurst, Texas; James Lee Carpenter II, 45, of Killeen, Texas; Quincy Lee Knox, 43, of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Clifford J. Lawson, 46, of Snellville, Georgia.

Two Filipino employees were also killed, Getulio Tibayan Templo and Serafin Igos Hernandez. The family of the ninth Vinnell victim did not want his name released.

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