September 1, 2006

ON BEHALF OF THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES PRINCE AHMAD BIN ABDULAZIZ WASHES THE HOLY KA'ABA. PRINCE AHMAD AFFIRMS THAT ALL GOVERNMENTAL SECTORS HAVE TAKEN THE NECESSARY MEASURES TO HELP ALL PILGRIMS PERFORM UMRAH AND HAJJ IN EASE AND COMFORT. THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR HIGHLIGHTS THE EFFORTS OF SECURITY MEN, POINTING OUT THAT ALL WHAT THEY WANT IS TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY SAFE AND ALSO BY OFFERING PRAYERS TO ALLAH TO GUIDE THOSE DEVIANTS TO THE RIGHT PATH. SECURITY FORCES DETAIN FOUR WANTED AND CONFISCATES WEAPONS, EXPLOSIVES AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENTS. THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IN ARAB AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. On behalf of the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz; Prince Ahmad bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Minister of Interior, was honored to wash the Ka'aba. Upon his arrival, Prince Ahmad was received by the General President of the Affairs of the Holy Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussein and his deputy Sheikh Mohammad bin Nasser Al-Khozayyem. Prince Ahmad washed the Ka'aba with a mixture of Zamzam and flower water which has been prepared by the General Presidency of the Affairs of the Holy Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. Several distinguished personalities participated with Prince Ahmad in washing the Ka'aba including Al-Hussein; Fuad Abdulsalam Al-Farsi, Minister of Hajj and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In a statement after washing the Ka'aba, Prince Ahmad thanked Allah for blessing this holy place where Muslims turn their hearts five times a day affirming that all governmental sectors take the necessary measures to help all pilgrims perform Umrah and Hajj in ease and comfort especially in the approaching holy month of Ramadan. With regard to the results of the recent achievement of security forces against terrorists, Prince Ahmad highlighted the efforts of security men, pointing out that all what they want is to keep this country safe and also by offering prayers to Allah to guide those deviants to the right path. On the other hand and further to the statements regarding besieging four wanted persons in a residential building in the province of Jeddah on Monday 27/07/1427 H. which ended with their surrender, an official source at the ministry of interior stated that the specialized security bodies, while on their duty, observed suspected moves of some persons affected by the Takfiri ideology. The security monitoring resulted in capturing 34 persons of different nationalities in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh and Jeddah who belong to the deviant group and have relations with the persons who had escaped from Al Malaz prison on 10/06/1427 H. Whereas the information indicated that four wanted persons were in an apartment in the fourth floor of a residential building in Al Jamiah neighborhood where they took it as a hideout and a factory for materials of killing and destruction, the security forces, under royal instructions, took the initiative and surrounded the location. The security forces started evacuating the building from the residents despite being fired at by the besieged group. The family of the expatriate who provided refuge to the wanted persons was also evacuated. After completing the evacuation operations under continuous exchange of fire, the security forces were able to tighten the grip on the besieged then they repeatedly called on them to surrender or face the serious repercussions of confronting the security men. Immediately afterwards, the besieged required to contact the security officials and surrendered. They were taken to hospital to be medically examined and treated. Also, they were allowed to contact their families. However, the regular investigations will be conducted with them later. It is worth mentioning that two persons who surrendered were among Almalaz prison fugitives. The security forces seized weapons, locally made explosives, communication devices and documents. Hence, the ministry of interior confirms that the security forces, while doing their duty, give priority to protecting the citizens and expatriates as well. Also, the ministry of interior is keen to provide at the same time a chance for all the involved in illegal activities to surrender and face fair trials. Meanwhile an official source in the Yemeni Ministry of Interior said last Saturday that the police arrested six suspects involved in fire fighting last Thursday in the supervisor committee for election in al- Jawf governorate, leaving 3 people killed and other six injured. The source said in a remarks to Saba, that the police formed a investigation committee headed by Deputy of al- Jouf Governor Mansour Abdan. The source pointed out that the initial results of the investigations showed that the fight was because a conflict between the head of security committee in the governorate and one of the candidates in al- Zaher area about the nominees files. The source said that the fight resulted in killing 3 persons( head of supervision committee in the governorate Musleh Sharian, candidate of a political party Mohammed al- Dhamine, and director of financial affairs in SCER branch, Mohammed Asskar.) Other six persons were injured in the accident including two heads of original committees in Khab, Shaaf and al- Muton districts , three soldiers, and one employee of SCER branch in the governorate. He said that interior ministry expressed sorrow on this accident and condolence for the families of victims. He called on all members of election committees to manage the election process in accordance with to law of elections. In Amman the Lower House of the Jordanian Parliament endorsed a controversial anti-terrorism law which allows security forces to put suspects under tight surveillance, detain them and ban them from leaving the country. The draft law allows suspects to be detained without a court order and to be tried at the State Security Court (SSC). The SSC has come under fire from human rights groups in the past because it comprises two judges from the army and one civilian and rules by majority vote. In a show-of-hands vote, the majority of parliamentarians said "yes" to the draft law after two days of tense discussions between pro-government MPs and others from the opposition, mainly the Islamic Action Front (IAF). Opponents of the law said it was an infringement on human rights and public freedoms. "The law judges people on their intentions rather than their actions. This is a gross violation to the country's agreements on human rights with the international community," said MP Nedal Abadi, from the IAF bloc at the parliament, who has urged his fellow MPs not to vote for the law. MPs and opposition party leaders feared the law might grant security forces a free hand to curb their peaceful political activities. Pro-government MPs stressed during their deliberations that the law was "important for the safety and security" of the country and its citizens. "This is a special law aimed at protecting citizens from terrorists," said MP Jamal Dmour, a member of the parliament's legal committee that recommended lawmakers ratify the draft law. Dmour said he believed the law did not contradict human rights agreements. "The law has been weaved in harmony with other existing legislation that protect civil liberties," he said. The law is expected to go into effect within a month after it is approved by the Upper House of Parliament. The government proposed the law a few weeks after the kingdom was targeted, allegedly by terrorist group al-Qaeda, in a triple suicide bombing that killed 60 people and injured 100 in November last year. In Egypt the trial of the group accused of being behind the spate of attacks that have targeted Red Sea resorts resumed. The attacks began in October 2004 with the triple bombing in Taba that killed 34, followed by three blasts in Sharm El-Sheikh in July 2005 that killed 65 and last month's triple bombing in Dahab that left 19 people dead. On 26 April, two days after the Dahab attack, two suicide bombers targeted a Multinational Forces and Observer (MFO) base in northern Sinai. Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, accused of masterminding 11 attacks in Sinai over the past two years, is described by police as a group of Sinai Bedouin with militant Islamist views. The group has not claimed responsibility for any of the attacks. Currently, 15 members of Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad are facing trial before a state security court in Ismailia in relation to the Taba bombings. In Beirut a high-ranking security official said that the three suspects held in Lebanon in connection with an alleged plot to bomb German trains last month are being checked for al-Qaeda links. "For us now we need to know who is behind them or if they have al- Qaeda links in and outside Lebanon, and whether they plotted this mission on their own or someone gave them orders from Lebanon or outside Lebanon," the official who requested anonymity told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "Jihad Hamad who handed himself over to the Lebanese police last Thursday is wanted by the Germans, but the Lebanese police had been investigating his movements and contacts before he surrendered," the source said. The source who is close to the investigation said the German investigators were still in Lebanon and were being briefed daily by Lebanon's general prosecutor Saeed Mirza on the outcome of the interrogation. Lebanese Police said the third suspect was a Lebanese national in his 30s, originally from the northern region of Akkar, the same area as two other suspects detained in Lebanon. Meanwhile Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will decide soon whether to extend a six-month amnesty, expiring on Monday, for Islamist rebels who have fought for years to overthrow the government, state radio reported. Bouteflika will act after studying a report on the results of the amnesty, part of a wider national reconciliation plan to bring an end to more than a decade of bloodshed in Africa's second largest country. Up to 300 guerrillas have surrendered since the measures came into force on February 28. Experts estimate several hundred more are still fighting in pockets of territory east of Algiers and in parts of the desert south. Morocco has stepped up security at its airports after discovering that the wives of two pilots at national airline Royal Air Maroc (RAM) had been funding a radical Islamist cell, state news agency MAP reported. "The Interior Ministry revealed the proven implication of three Moroccan women, two of them married to RAM pilots, in the terrorist enterprise led by the Ansar El Mehdi cell recently dismantled by the security services," MAP said. The three women had given financial support to the group's leader and other members of the cell so they could carry out acts of terrorism, it said. It gave no names for the women and did not say whether they had been arrested or charged. After a meeting of top interior ministry and transport officials, the government decided to tighten security at airports and improve coordination between airport services, MAP added, without providing further details. The government said on Aug. 7 it had busted the previously unknown Jammaat Ansar El Mehdi (El Mehdi Support Group) cell, arresting over 40 group members and seizing explosives, propaganda material and laboratory equipment. It said the group was planning to declare a holy war in the northeast of the country, attack tourist sites and assassinate people who symbolize the state. The authorities say they have dismantled more than 50 militant cells with more than 2,000 members since May 2003, when the normally peaceful country was shaken by a series of bombings in the economic capital Casablanca that killed 45 people. The Casablanca attacks were blamed on Islamists who brainwashed bored, impressionable youngsters in the slums that surround the city. But evidence is growing that such militant groups are becoming more sophisticated and well organised. The government said the Ansar El Mehdi cell had set up local branches in several Moroccan towns, recruited military personnel able to handle explosives and planned to fund its holy war with bank robberies, hold-ups of money transport convoys and forged bank notes. The British government has requested the extradition of Rashid Rauf, a Briton arrested in Pakistan earlier this month in connection with the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound jetliners, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday. Rauf earlier identified by Pakistan as a "key person" in the plot was being investigated for alleged links with al-Qaida, in connection with terrorist threats in Britain and in Pakistan, said ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam. Aiden Liddle, a spokesman for the British Embassy, confirmed it had submitted the extradition request, but said it was in connection with a British investigation into a 2002 murder. Rauf moved to Pakistan shortly after his maternal uncle was stabbed to death that year. Pakistani officials have said Rauf, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin, helped coordinate the alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jetliners that was thwarted in Britain this month. Britain announced Aug. 10 that it had broken up the plot by arresting about two dozen people across that country. Stricter security rules were immediately imposed at Britain's airports and elsewhere, causing widespread disruptions in air travel for days. The New York Times reported that British police moved in after surveillance equipment monitored two young Muslim men making a "martyrdom" tape justifying the planned suicide attacks on airliners as revenge against the United States and its allies Britain and Israel. The Times quoted unidentified British officials as saying considerable progress had been made in planning the attacks, but the alleged plotters had not obtained plane tickets and weren't ready to strike. Police, however, decided to act because they feared there might be an attack by other plotters unknown to them, the Times said. Pakistan has detained at least seven people in its own investigation of the alleged plot, but has identified only Rauf. Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Rauf had given Pakistani interrogators "vital clues" about the plot. He also said Rauf had "wider international links" and was in touch with an Afghanistan-based al-Qaida leader. He did not provide any details. Aslam said the information from Pakistan's investigation was being shared with Britain. She also said Rauf had been arrested in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad. Intelligence officials said earlier that he was picked up in Bhawalpur, a stronghold of the outlawed militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed in eastern Pakistan. According to an in-law of Rauf's, he settled in Bhawalpur after emigrating from Britain and was tied by marriage to Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, fueling suspicions that Pakistani militants could be linked to the jetliner plot. Pakistani soldiers searching a cave found the body of a fugitive tribal leader whose death in a military raid sparked large-scale unrest, but it was pinned under a boulder and will take days to retrieve, army officials said. Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, was killed when an explosion destroyed his mountain cave hide-out in the Tartari area of Kohlu district in southwestern Baluchistan province. His son has said the violence that has gripped southern Pakistan since his death would continue until his father's body was returned. Two senior army officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the search for the remains, said soldiers working at the cave spotted Bugti's head and shoulders protruding from underneath a giant boulder. It would take at least three days to remove his body from underneath the boulder, said one of the officials, who works in army intelligence. Bugti's death has sparked days of rioting and protests led by his supporters in Baluchistan, a fiercely independent and restive region bordering Iran and Afghanistan. Bugti had led an often violent political campaign against the Pakistani government to win a greater share of wealth obtained from natural resources, like gas and oil, extracted in the region. Four separate blasts on Turkey's popular coastal region and in the country's commercial capital Istanbul injured 22 people, including 10 Britons, a state news agency and British authorities said. Anatolian news agency said three blasts occurred around the Mediterranean resort of Marmaris, including in the city center, and another in Istanbul's Bagcilar district late on Sunday, injuring 22 people. The British Foreign Office said 10 British tourists were among the injured and were in hospital, three in intensive care. There were no immediate claims of responsibility and Turkish authorities were not immediately available for comment. The Britons were in a minibus on one of Marmaris' main streets, packed with bars and restaurants, when the blast occurred. "I can confirm that there were three explosions but the (British) injuries all came from the first explosion," said a British embassy spokeswoman in Ankara. "All the British injuries were on the minibus." Television pictures showed ambulances and police cars at the scene of the explosions. Marmaris is a coastal resort popular with west European and Russian tourists as well as Turks -- for many the last weekend of their annual summer holiday. Anatolian news agency quoted Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah as saying six people had been injured when a device exploded near a school in Istanbul's Bagcilar. "They left a package on a road against the garden wall... At around 2130 (1830 GMT) it exploded and six citizens were injured," Cerrah said, but did not provide further details of whether it was a bomb and who planted the device. The blasts came only two days after two bombs exploded in the southern Turkish city of Adana, injuring four people.