Militants taking aim at Saudi security chiefs

WASHINGTON -- Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia with links to al- Qaida appear to be making a concerted new effort to destabilize the Saudi government by assassinating top security officials, according to senior U.S. officials.

A series of assassination attempts in the last month, including a failed car bombing in the Saudi capital on Monday, have also included a previously undisclosed shooting in early December of Maj. Gen. Abdelaziz al-Huweirini. As the No. 3 official in Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry, he is the kingdom's top counterterrorism official.

Huweirini, who has worked closely with U.S. officials, was wounded in an attack on Dec. 4, the U.S. officials said. No one has been killed in the attacks, which have continued despite major setbacks for al-Qaida in a battle with Saudi security forces.

One Saudi king, Faisal, was assassinated in 1975 by a militant who was also a relative, but assassination attempts against Saudi officials have otherwise been almost unknown. Until this year, most major attacks by suspected al-Qaida militants in Saudi Arabia have been directed against U.S. or other Western targets.

Al-Qaida militants have carried out a wave of major suicide-bomb attacks in Riyadh, the capital, killing at least 50 people in the last seven months. But they have also been punished by a security crackdown in which hundreds of militants have been arrested and dozens more killed, and secret caches have been uncovered that contained tons of weapons and explosives.

"The Saudis have done a good job of taking down a lot of their leadership," a senior U.S. official said Monday of al-Qaida members in Saudi Arabia. "But they continue to be very dangerous and to go after royal-family-related targets."

The Saudi royal government has long been the principal target of Osama bin Laden and his followers, but the extent of al-Qaida's network inside the kingdom, which has become evident in recent months, has surprised many Saudi and U.S. officials.

Analysts from the CIA have warned that the crackdown may well provoke al-Qaida militants in Saudi Arabia to step up their attacks, U.S. officials say, an assessment that was first reported by Knight Ridder newspapers.

On Sunday, the British government warned that a terrorist attack could be in the final stages of preparation in Saudi Arabia. That warning amplified others issued this month by the United States.

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.