THE US/SAUDI ARABIA: The United States says guerrillas were close to carrying out attacks in Saudi Arabia and that US diplomatic missions in the kingdom will close today to review the security situation.
The warning by the US embassy yesterday follows Saudi security raids earlier this week in which three militants suspected of links to al-Qaeda were killed.
Saudi security services continue to maintain strong pressure on Islamic militants in the run-up to a visit by the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Richard Armitage, for discussions on Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, and the war on terror.
They were supported yesterday at Friday prayers when religious leaders accused militants of violating the teachings of Islam and threatening its most sacred sites.
After two separate clashes between gunmen and security forces in the holy city of Mecca, the preacher at Mecca's grand mosque said the militants were trying "to destabilise the security of these safe places".
"They have violated the sanctities of time and place and committed terrorism, violence, bombings, crime and corruption," Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudeis told worshippers yesterday.
On Thursday, two militants blew themselves up during a chase in Mecca and one was shot dead in the capital, Riyadh.
On Monday in Mecca, a Saudi and a Pakistani, identified as members of al-Qaeda, were killed and six were captured. The incidents were part of an offensive against militants launched in May after 35 Saudis and Westerners were killed in triple suicide bombings in Riyadh.
According to Saudi commentator Mr Jamal Kashoggi, more than 600 members of an "extensive network" of militant groups have been arrested over the past four months. Other commentators suggest that the latest operations against militants are designed to demonstrate to the US the kingdom's determination to crack down on militants.
Islamists pose the greatest threat to the monarchy since its establishment by King Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud in the 1930s. The militants have arisen within the conservative tribal Wahhabi movement which has since then been one of the two mainstays of the house of Saud, the other being the now troubled alliance between the ruling family and the US.
While Mr Kashoggi argues the militants are not mainstream Wahhabis but members of a "cult" - al- Qaeda - they pose a serious challenge to the monarchy and the US, which is widely reviled in the kingdom due to its support for Israel and occupation of Iraq.
For years the Saudis denied that an indigenous Islamist movement had emerged and refused to take action against its ideologues, organisers and sponsors. The revelation that 15 Saudis took part in the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the US forced Riyadh to revise its attitude, but still the security apparatus hesitated to act.
Meanwhile, a Saudi reform movement, born during the 1991 US war against Iraq, has stepped up pressure on Saudi's rulers to institute changes which would preserve the monarchy, seen as a stabilising and unifying force.
The reformers, characterised as "new liberals" with secular tendencies, seek popular participation in decision-making and the gradual transformation of the absolute monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. - (Additional reporting Reuters)