Al-Qaeda group claims blast

2004-04-22 12:09

Dubai - A statement attributed to an extremist group linked to al-Qaeda and posted on an Islamist website has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's blast in Riyadh that killed at least four people and wounded 145.

"The Brigade of the Two Holy Mosques in the Arabian Peninsula has succeeded in blowing up the headquarters of the special security and anti-terrorism forces related to the interior ministry," said a statement published on the website http://alsaha.fares.net/.

"The explosion totally destroyed the targeted building and killed and wounded tens of soldiers, officers and commanders of the criminal and apostate organisation," said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry said four people were killed in the blast and 145 wounded, including Saudis and mainly Arab expatriates, as well as Africans and Asians.

The attack was launched in reprisal of those who "are aggressive against Muslims, kill the Mujahedeen, imprison the ulemas (religious scholars), the reformists and the young," it added.

Affirming it "will not forget the blood of the martyrs" in the anti-terror hunt by Saudi security forces in the kingdom, the group added: "Our wounds can only be healed by jihad (holy war)."

Addressing the "tyrants" in Saudi Arabia, the group warned that Wednesday's attack "is only one punishment technique that we are going to inflict on you."

"These techniques will not stop, (and will materialise) through explosions, assassinations and other forms of vengeance," the statement added.

"If the brave Mujahedeen of the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden, for whom God has assured victory ... stops attacking you ... (in favour of) the occupier war by the crusaders ... we will devote ourselves to inflicting on you the price for apostasy, crime and corruption," the statement claimed.

Several such claims

The radical Islamist group has made several such claims in the past.

On December 31 last year it issued a statement claiming responsibility for blowing up a Saudi security officer's car outside his home in Riyadh and threatened more attacks.

On December 10, the Brigade warned it would "liquidate" anyone who passes on information to the Saudi authorities to help the kingdom capture armed extremists.

The warning came after Saudi Arabia named 26 "terror suspects", mostly Saudis, and posted financial rewards for information leading to their arrests.

The list has since been narrowed down to 22 after three militants figuring on it were killed in clashes with security forces while a fourth turned himself in.

A series of suicide bombings targeting residential compounds killed 52 people in Riyadh in May and November 2003. The attacks were blamed on suspected sympathisers of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.

- AFP