RIYADH, Aug 17: Saudi Arabia's battle against terrorism is virtually over and the kingdom is chasing the last remaining extremists, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said in an interview to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyasah.
"We are past the stages of terrorism," he said. "What you see now is the elimination of the last pockets and the chasing of the last remainders." "We directly went to the heads of the snakes to cut them off and we know the tails are a group of our sons who went astray," Prince Abdullah said. "We know how to deal with them and how to bring them back to the right path."
King Fahd had offered a month-long amnesty to militants in June saying those who surrendered would be spared the death penalty. Six wanted men turned themselves in, including Khaled-al Harb, said to be a close confidant of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and 27 others were repatriated from different countries. However, the amnesty failed to attract hard- core militants.
Prince Abdullah told al-Siyasah that Saudis were not violent by nature, "and if a certain group was misled, it is a very small group ... which was brought under control and eliminated".
The prince said that terrorists who did not turn themselves "will face death soon". He said Saudi Arabia's growing economy made it "impossible for people to stay away from [Saudi]". He said foreigners who had left the kingdom following attacks had now returned.
