5,000 troops pour into Makkah: US sees Al Qaeda behind bombing
RIYADH, Nov 10: At least 5,000 security troops have been deployed in Makkah to protect pilgrims during Ramazan, a security source said on Monday, as Saudi Arabia vowed to capture the suicide bombers who killed 17 people.
“We will get the perpetrators ... who claim to be Muslims,” Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said.
“We will get to them, God willing, no matter how long it takes,” Prince Nayef pledged after inspecting the al-Muhaya residential compound in Riyadh devastated by the blast on Saturday night.
The decision to deploy extra forces in Makkah was reached after security forces smashed a suspected Al Qaeda cell last week and announced it had been preparing an attack on the faithful, said the security source who refused to be named.
Some two million foreign pilgrims and 500,000 Saudis were expected to throng Makkah over the last 10 days of Ramazan.
More reinforcements would also be deployed in Madina, the source added.
Meanwhile, a group of Saudi Ulema offered to mediate between the government and the militants to try to stop any further bombings.
“A group of learned men and Saudi clerics are now trying to set up a mechanism to launch a dialogue between the government and the youths who have carried out acts of violence, in an effort to halt the bloodshed,” Sheikh Abdullah Nasser al-Sobeihi, one of the scholars, told AFP on Monday.
Asked if the Saudi authorities could agree to a dialogue with men they brand “terrorists and fugitives”, the scholar said: “The mediation is still at a preliminary stage and I believe dialogue with the youths will not lead to a loss of prestige for the government.”
Besides, US President George Bush telephoned Crown Prince Abdullah on Sunday to assure that the United States “stands with Saudi Arabia in the war against terrorism”.
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met Prince Abdullah in Riyadh late Sunday, saying he believed Al Qaeda was “probably” behind the attack.
The objective of Al Qaeda was “to bring down the Saudi government as well as to create fear and spread terror,” said Mr Armitage.
Prince Nayef suggested the bombers were radicals, hundreds of whom have been rounded up since similar bombings in Riyadh killed 35 people on May 12.
Mr Armitage, who travelled on to Cairo on Monday, hailed the Saudi authorities for their strong “offensive” in fighting extremism.
Meanwhile, the United States on Monday lifted restrictions on the movement of US diplomats and their families in Saudi Arabia after ordering them to remain confined to Riyadh’s heavily-protected diplomatic enclave after a deadly suicide bombing in the capital.
However, the department said the US embassy in Riyadh and consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran would stay closed due to the unstable security situation.—Agencies
RIYADH, Nov 10: At least 5,000 security troops have been deployed in Makkah to protect pilgrims during Ramazan, a security source said on Monday, as Saudi Arabia vowed to capture the suicide bombers who killed 17 people.
