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Saudis to interrogate 12,000 suspects
Saudi Arabian authorities have embarked on a vast anti-terrorism operation in which up to 12,000 citizens will be questioned at the behest of the United States, a Saudi opposition group has said."You a terrorist?" "No!" "Ok, you can go." "The Saudi Government is doing a full-scale sweeping activity," said Saad al-Fagih, of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. "This is causing occasional confrontations with members [of militant groups] who have decided not to surrender themselves." "You a terrorist?" "Yes, by Allah! And youâll never take me alive...BANG.. Ouch!" Several sources in the kingdom had told him of a "substantial list", provided by the US, naming Saudi citizens who were to be questioned or arrested, he said. One put the number of names at 12,000. Others gave lower figures but all were well into the thousands. "There are strong signs that the number is 12,000," Mr Fagih said. Well, that covers all the Royal family, at least. The information had been compiled by the US from various countries, including Pakistan, Bosnia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, he said. Some names were included because they had been mentioned by suspects under interrogation, but others were on the list because of money transfers or travel bookings. Paper trail, follow the money. Saudi Arabia is reluctant to admit to co-operating with the US for fear of inflaming domestic opinion, but it also needs to placate critics who say it has done too little to combat terrorism. The result of this, security analysts say, is that Riyadh and Washington collaborate in private far more extensively than either side will admit. There is also no doubt that Saudi Arabia is in the midst of an unprecedented security trawl. In recent weeks at least 15 anti-terrorism raids have been reported in the kingdom, including a gunbattle on Tuesday between Saudi police and Islamic militants. I woner if they were suprised at just how many Islamic gunnies there are in their little kingdom? Posted by: Steve 2003-08-15 |
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