RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudis blamed al-Qaida militants yesterday for the suicide car bombing of a Riyadh housing complex that killed 17 people, declaring it proof of the terror network's willingness to shed Muslim blood in its zeal to bring down the U.S.-linked Saudi monarchy.
The attack late Saturday at an upscale compound for foreign workers - where mostly Arabs lived - also wounded 122 people. The blast, not far from diplomatic quarters and the king's main palace, left piles of rubble, hunks of twisted metal, broken glass and a large crater.
It's no longer an issue of terrorism for them
said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi analyst. It's become a war on the regime a war to turn the country into a new Afghanistan ruled by a Saudi-style Taliban.
An Interior Ministry official said late yesterday that the death toll rose to 17 - including five children - after search crews pulled six more bodies from the rubble. At least 13 were Arabs, with the others as yet unidentified, the official said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he was personally quite sure al-Qaida was behind the Saturday night attack because this attack bears the hallmark of them.
Such attacks appear to be directed against the government of Saudi Arabia and the people of Saudi Arabia he said, adding that he expected more to follow.
Al-Qaida will prefer to have many such attacks to appear bigger than they are
he said shortly after arriving in the Saudi capital. Such attacks showed that all of us have to work together.
Gunmen - possibly disguised as police - shot their way into the 200-house compound, trading fire with security guards. The attackers, believed to be in a police car, then drove into the compound and blew themselves up.
It still was not clear late yesterday how many attackers there were or if they were listed as among the dead.
The victims included Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese and Saudis. The Interior Ministry said most of the wounded were Arabs as well. Most of the compound's residents were Lebanese, but some Saudis, German, French and Italian families also lived there.
Four U.S. citizens were among the wounded, the ministry said. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt said some Americans were treated for minor injuries and released.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said he could not rule out a connection to suspected al-Qaida terrorist cells targeted in recent sweeps, as a number of suspects from those cells were still at large.
Adding to the al-Qaida connection was the similarity between Saturday's bombing and attacks also blamed on the terror network - particularly the May 12 suicide car bombings of other Riyadh compounds housing foreigners, which killed 26 bystanders. Nine attackers also died.
Led by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida has long opposed the Saudi royal family, accusing it of being insufficiently Islamic and too close to the West, particularly the United States.
Yesterday in London, the Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, condemned Saturday's attack as the work of an evil cult whose sole aim is the destruction of the kingdom.
By targeting foreigners' housing compounds, the attackers target the backbone of the Saudi economy. Saudi Arabia is home to 6 million expatriate workers, including about 35,000 Americans and 30,000 Britons. The kingdom relies on foreigners in its oil industry, security forces and health sector.
This evil must be stopped
Prince Turki said, without naming al-Qaida. We call on all the people of the world to work with us in fighting this evil and ridding the international community of this plague.
At the compound hit Saturday, located in a ravine surrounded by hills, residents trickled back yesterday mainly to salvage mementos, clothes, passports and other personal items.
Prince Nayef, the interior minister, toured the site early yesterday and then warned that authorities would pursue anyone who would attack the kingdom and stop them no matter how long the path is ... until we are completely certain that our country is free of every devil and every evil person.
