March 25, 2005

THE SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA STRESSES THAT THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE AND IRAQ ARE FEED GROUND FOR TERRORISM. WORLD EXPERTS: SAUDI OIL IS PROTECTED FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS. THE POLICE SHOOT DEAD A MAN WHO TRIES TO STORM THE HEADQUARTERS OF AL-WATAN NEWSPAPER. AN EGYPTIAN COMMIT THE SUICIDE ATTACK IN QATAR AND INVESTIGATION ARE LAUNCHED ON THE ROLE OF AL-QAEDA. JORDAN'S MILITARY COURT SENTENCE MUSAB AL ZARQAWI TO 15 YEARS JAIL FOR PLANNING AN ATTACK ON THE JORDANIAN EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD. Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Russia Muhammad Hassan Abdul Wali said in a speech delivered at a conference in Moscow entitled "World religions against terrorism" that the presence of foreign forces in Iraq and not solving the Palestinian issue are feeding terrorism. The Ambassador noted that Osama bin Laden is still free in Afghanistan and a number of country continue to be safe heaven for terrorists. Ambassador Abdul Wali said the Palestinian-Israeli agreements reached in Sharm El-Sheikh and London conference to support the Palestinian reforms provide hope to solve the problem. He called on the international media to stop their campaign against Muslims and Islam pointing that Islam has no connection whatsoever with criminal activities that contradict all religions. Recent years have seen major progress in Saudi-Russian relations, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Russia said. Political dialogue at various levels including the top tier is increasing, officials of various ranks have been exchanging visits and plan more of them this year and an intergovernmental commission has been set up and has held its first meeting, Muhammad Hassan Abdul Wali said. Undoubtedly there are also common interests in combating terrorism, as both sides are prominent targets of al-Qaeda as well as home-grown terrorists. Saudi and Russian anti-terrorism services were coordinating their efforts, while economic relations between the two countries also were moving ahead, the ambassador said. The Conference was held at the International Relations Institute affiliated to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile Russian sources confirmed that a Saudi delegation will participate in the Conference entitled "Islam calls for peace", which will be launched in Moscow on March 31rd. The Conference will deal with extremism and terrorism amongst other issues. On the other hand Roger Diwan of PFC Consulting in Washington asserts that Saudi Arabia has taken protective measures to ensure that any attempted attack would not destroy crucial parts of the oil production and export system. "The Saudis have installed exceptional defense systems," he said. "They've always done that, but they've heavily reinforced them in the past year. There are huge exclusion zones around the installations, 100 to 120 kilometers (62 miles to 75 miles) in diameter, fortresses in the desert guarded by colossal means, satellites that detect anything that moves, helicopters, radar, the army and their own security forces. They watch everything extremely closely. Isolated in the desert and surrounded by numerous barriers, watchtowers and beaches of white sand in order to track footprints, the nerve centers are out of reach to potential attackers." On the other hand the police shot dead a man who tried to storm the headquarters of Al-Watan newspaper in Abha, officials said. Sources identified the man as Bandar Ali Abdullah who was killed while driving through the exit gate of the Al-Watan newspaper building and ignored police warnings to stop, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. The intruder was driving a 2001 model Hilux pick-up, sources said. His motives were not clear, but Al-Watan has published articles critical of Al-Qaeda, which is behind a two-year bombing and shooting campaign to destabilize the Kingdom. He refused to stop, despite warnings from the police, even after they fired warning shots, Interior Ministry security spokesman Brigadier General Mansour Turki said. He was very close to the building so they fired at the car. One bullet killed him. A knife and an axe were found in his car. The car, which was stolen, was being searched by authorities, Turki added. Sources said the intruder was convicted in several criminal cases earlier. Security sources said the man, in his 20s, tried to break through the security at around 7 A.M. On the other hand Qatari security officials launched an inquiry into the suicide car bombing at a British community theatre in the capital Doha that killed two people, including a Briton, and injured 12, mostly Asians and Arabs. The Foreign Office in London identified the Briton as Jonathan Adams. The official Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying "the explosion (on Saturday night) took place as a result of a criminal act committed by Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, an Egyptian." The car used in the bomb attack was registered in Abdullah Ali's name, the official said. The bomb went off while a performance was in progress at the Doha Players Theatre in Doha's Fariq Kulaib area. The theater, opposite the Doha English Speaking School (DESS), was the pride of the Western expatriate community in Qatar for many years. The explosion shattered the windows in staff accommodation in the DESS and was heard over much of Doha. Some of the injuries were caused by flying glass. Many other buildings within a wide radius suffered damage, as did cars parked on the roads. The blast went off after the audience had returned to the main theatre building following the intermission in an amateur performance of the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night. The explosion destroyed a hall, called the West End, adjacent to the main theatre. The West End hall had been used for rehearsals and dance classes at the Doha Players. During staging of the plays, as it was on Saturday night, the West End was used as a coffee bar at intermissions. The local English language newspaper Gulf Times quoted a witness as saying that there would have been a carnage if the blast had occurred a little earlier during the intermission when the West End coffee bar was teeming with theatre goers. Doha Players was the first amateur dramatics group in the Gulf to have its own, purpose-built theatre, which was constructed in 1979. The blast occurred in an area where the US Embassy used to be located before the mission moved to new premises. The suicide bombing in Doha, Qatar took place three days after the airing of the taped speech of Al-Qaeda leader Saleh Al-Aufi. The target was a Western institution. Some analysts say Al-Qaeda is losing its strong image of power in Saudi Arabia and is breaking up. Terrorism specialist and researcher Faris ibn Hizam said that one could sense from Aufi's speech that he was not aware of what was going on in the country. "He did not talk about the recent events in Riyadh, nor did he elaborate on the attack on the Ministry of Interior last December," said Hizam. He said that that was a clear message that Al-Qaeda was breaking up and dissolving. In his speech, Aufi urged the followers and admirers of Al-Qaeda in the Gulf states to start moving and help back up Al-Qaeda. He started off with Qatar when he said "we urge our brothers Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and all the Gulf states close to Iraq to help their brothers, each in his county by destroying machines, soldiers, bases and planes of the Crusaders". Hizam said that Aufi showed weakness when he pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi. The statement by Aufi does not show whether there is any sign of the presence of Al-Qaeda cells in those countries. However, there could be a cell waiting for a deadline to strike. The Qatar explosion may have something to do with that. Hizam believes that there may be only remnants of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia who are not well organized and that they may lose the right to be called an organization. "Beside a few cells in the Western region and Riyadh scattered here and there, there are no good signs of the presence of a well organized group in the Kingdom and we can say that the organization has come to an end," said Hizam. That was one of the reasons why Al-Qaeda was going Gulfwide under the leadership of Al-Zarqawi and with the slogan of "Facing Americans". Aufi is the fourth leader of the so called Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The first leader was Yousuf Al-Eyari, who was killed in a security raid in Hail in June 2003. Then came Khaled Alhaj who was shot dead by Saudi forces in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda then assigned Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin to lead the organization in Saudi Arabia but he was soon killed in Riyadh after the murder of Paul Johnson in June 2004. Following that incident Al-Qaeda announced that their new leader was Saleh Al-Aufi. Qataris and expatriates held a massive rally at the site of the bombing which killed a Briton and injured a dozen as it emerged that the Egyptian suicide bomber was employed at state-run Qatar Petroleum (QP). As a probe continued into the explosion that rocked a British theatre linked to the Doha English Speaking School, a team of French experts arrived in Doha to help in the investigation. Many Western, Asian and Arab residents carrying Qatari flags were among some 3,000 people who gathered amid tight security at the site of the blast to denounce the attack. Sons of Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, government ministers, clerics and other prominent figures joined the rally. "No to terrorism," "Progress and security, whether the cowards like it or not," read some of the banners raised by the demonstrators. Authorities have said the attack was carried out by an Egyptian resident, Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali, who blew up his own booby-trapped car. Qatar identified Ali as the attacker who rammed an explosives-laden car into the theater popular with Westerners. Ali had worked in the company's information technology department since 1990, his colleagues said. "Nobody expected this from him. He was a decent man and just had a baby a month ago," one colleague said. "He was not a loner, but he was not the most sociable person." The General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) condemned the criminal act that occurred last night near a theatre in Doha, Qatar. In a statement, the Secretariat stressed the effective role played by Qatari Security Departments to combat criminals and wrong doers, wishing the Qatari people and government permanent security and peace. The Secretariat condoled the family of victims of the blast and wished the injured a quick recovery. The Sultanate of Oman and other condemned the malicious and criminal act. A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry affirmed the Sultanate's support to the government of the sisterly state of Qatar in all that protects its security and stability against such acts of absurdity. "The Sultanate's government also condoles with the families of the victims, wishes swift recovery to those injured and prays to the Almighty to save the sisterly state of Qatar from harm. "The Sultanate calls on all states in the region and the world to unite against all acts of terrorism and work together to uproot the phenomenon wherever it exists," the statement concluded. Meanwhile, the Gulf states strongly condemned the "criminal" bombing and called for unity to eradicate "terrorism". In Yemen Four supporters of a slain cleric were killed while trying to flee from police after a shootout, the official news agency Saba said. It said a group of followers of rebel leader Hussein Al-Hothiwho was killed by Yemeni forces last yearhad sped away in a car after exchanging fire with police at a weapons market in Saada province, north of the capital, Sanaa. Four of the men were killed when the car overturned after colliding with a security vehicle, Saba said, adding that three other rebels and a policeman were injured. Hothi was killed last September after two months of clashes with security forces in which over 200 rebels and troops died. The government of Yemen accused Hothi, leader of the Believing Youth group and a Zaidi Shi'ite Muslim sect, of setting up unlicensed religious centres and forming an armed group which staged violent protests against the United States and Israel. In Amman Jordan's military court sentenced wanted terror leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi to 15 years jail and a detained associate to three years behind bars for planning an attack on the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad. The court convicted Al Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, and Al Miqdad Mohammad Al Dabbas, 24, of conspiracy to attack the embassy, the offices of the Jordanian military attache in Baghdad and unspecified American targets in Iraq. The court heard that the two Jordanians met in Iraq in November 2003 to plan an attack on the embassy following an August bombing on the same building that killed 18 people, of which Al Zarqawi has also been accused. Al Dabbas was accused of undertaking surveillance on Jordanian targets in Baghdad, including the embassy, and providing Al Zarqawi with descriptions of the building, perimeter walls, staff and security. Al Dabbas had pleaded innocent throughout the trial, which began December 13. Al Zarqawi is Al Qaida's point man in Iraq who is on the run with a $25 million (Dh92 million) bounty on his head. Al Zarqawi was tried in absentia. Al Dabbas was arrested in Iraq on February 26 and handed over later to Jordanian authorities. Al Zarqawi has been linked to numerous other crimes in Jordan and sentenced to death in the plot to kill 60-year-old US diplomat Laurence Foley, who was gunned down October 28, 2002 outside his Amman home. Al Zarqawi is believed to be directing anti-US attacks and kidnappings in Iraq, where the Al Qaida group he leads has beheaded several foreign hostages. In London a Spanish national was arrested near London in connection with the Madrid train bombings last year, Scotland Yard said in a statement. Moutaz Almallah Dabas, 39, was arrested in the Slough area, 20 miles west of London, by authorities including Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit. He appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court under a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish authorities for alleged terrorist offenses -- in particular, involvement in last year's attack. In the US the agency charged with protecting homeland security developed an elaborate, confidential report to alert states to a host of terror-strike scenarios, but the document was inadvertently posted on several states' public Web sites before being removed. The department has been working for a year on a National Planning Scenarios plan that outlines a number of plausible attacks -- including by nerve gas, anthrax, pneumonic plague and truck bomb. The report, still confidential, was requested by a presidential directive in December 2003 and will be made public in upcoming months, Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. It was inadvertently posted on Internet sites of several states, including Hawaii, before it was taken down, Roehrkasse said. The other states were not immediately identified. Homeland Security "has developed a number of scenarios that will aid federal, state and local homeland security officials in developing plans to become more prepared to prevent and respond to an act of terrorism, should it occur," Roehrkasse said. The plan also "will help us better target our efforts and resources in improving the nation's preparedness," he said. Officials said there was no credible indication that such attacks were being planned. The draft plan was first reported on the Internet site of The New York Times. The report does not hypothesize where such attacks would take place since, Roehrkasse said. "The overall goal is to increase the overall baseline preparedness of all states and cities throughout the country." Besides identifying possible types of attacks, Roehrkasse said the report also estimates how many deaths and how much economic damage the attacks would cause.