Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia was yesterday on alert, with officials fearing an attack in the holy city of Mecca and diplomats warning of more violence after the weekend bombing of a mainly Arab residential compound in Riyadh killed at least 18 people.
"They're focusing their resources on Mecca. The concern is that extremists could be wanting to show that the government can't perform its function as the custodian of the holy shrines and keep the mosques safe," said a diplomat.
King Fahd vowed last night that his country would strike with an "iron fist" against suspected Islamic militants behind the bombing. A cabinet statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency reported the king as telling ministers that Riyadh would "strike with an iron fist whoever tries to violate the security of the country or its stability and the safety of its citizens and residents".
"[King Fahd\] emphasised the will to confront terrorism and deal forcefully with such criminal and wicked acts and to get at criminals who commit such acts and whoever is behind them," the agency said.
Some of the perpetrators of the Saturday bombing are believed to have escaped after shooting the guards at the compound and could be planning more attacks.
The US embassy, which said on Friday it had credible evidence of an imminent attack, is maintaining its warning.
"I don't believe we've seen the last of what the US was warning against," said a western diplomat. Mr Richard Armitage, US Deputy Secretary of State, on a visit to Saudi Arabia, said it was clear that the al-Qaeda terror group wanted to "take down the royal family". He offered American support. He said the US wanted relations with Riyadh, which have been under strain since the September 11 attacks, to "try to get back on a much more normal, congenial and beneficial" path and expressed "utmost faith" in the leadership of Crown Prince Abdullah.
Western diplomats in Riyadh said the government was stepping up security in Mecca amid concerns that terrorists could still be seeking to disrupt a Muslim pilgrimage in the last 10 days of the fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in the last week of November.
Security has also been stepped up for diplomats and on Western residences in Riyadh. Many compounds for expatriates, who hold key jobs in the kingdom's oil industry and military programmes, already resemble army camps from the outside.
Ringed by up to 50 soldiers from Saudi Arabia's national guard, the compounds' high perimeter walls are topped by razor wire and surrounded with concrete blocks. Some have machine guns at the gates and armoured vehicles covered by netting near the entrances.
- (Financial Times, Reuters)