Saudi preachers denounce terrorist attacks

SAUDI ARABIA: Six Saudi preachers seen as influential with Islamist extremists denounced attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia…

SAUDI ARABIA: Six Saudi preachers seen as influential with Islamist extremists denounced attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia as a "grave sin" under Islam yesterday.

"The bombings and killings have revolted people and hurt individuals and their property, and no one with the slightest knowledge of Islam can doubt that this is an atrocious crime and grave sin," they said in a statement carried by Saudi media.

The statement came amid an escalation of violence in the kingdom by militants loyal to Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in their campaign to oust the pro-US monarchy and drive out Westerners.

Militants shot dead a US military contractor outside his home in Riyadh on Saturday. Al-Qaeda, which claimed the attack, said it had also kidnapped an American. It was the sixth assault on Westerners in six weeks in the world's top oil exporter.

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The clerics' statement, read out on television, said those who killed non-Muslims resident among Muslims would not go to heaven.

It also urged Muslims not to brand fellow believers "infidels".

The preachers included Sheikh Safar al-Hawali and Sheikh Salman al-Odeh, who have been imprisoned for demanding reforms and criticising the powers of the Saudi royal family.

It is unusual for Saudi state media to give such prominence to non-governmental religious scholars.

However, Mr Mohsen al- Awajy, an expert on Islamic militants, said the clerics' statement would fall on deaf ears among militants and their supporters.

"These people will not accept the condemnation. They will not be swayed from their ideology," he said.

Al-Qaeda's year-old campaign in the kingdom has targeted foreigners and non-Muslims. It has vowed that 2004 will be "bloody and miserable" for the kingdom.