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Al-Qaeda behind German's killing in Saudi
The drive-by shooting of a German man in the Saudi capital on Saturday bore the hallmarks of a militant attack but it is not clear if the gunmen were linked to al Qaeda or acting alone, diplomats said on Sunday. Saudi authorities, who have blamed al Qaeda for a wave of violence, said they were investigating whether "terrorists" were behind Saturday's shooting. Western envoys and independent Saudi observers said criminal motives were unlikely and the attack was either a spontaneous act of rage by Saudis angered by U.S. abuses of prisoners in neighbouring Iraq or a pre-meditated strike by followers of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
| Arabs are big on spontaneous acts of rage... |
"We think it probably is a terrorist act. But we're not sure whether it's by the same group as before or some kind of random attack," said one Western diplomat.
| "Could just be nutbags, I suppose. Lord knows there's enough of them around here..." |
"I believe it is a militant attack related to what is happening in Iraq," said Mohsen al-Awajy, an Islamist lawyer who backs government efforts to persuade militants to surrender. "Everyone is very angry about what is going on in Abu Ghraib and the barbarian bombardment of Iraqi cities," he said, referring to U.S. abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and strikes against Shi'ite militia in Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Kufa. Pictures of Iraqi prisoners being mistreated by their U.S. captors have been shown repeatedly on television stations across the Arab world, triggering popular fury.
| Fury, of course, being very popular... |
Saturday's shooting occurred at a shopping district popular with Westerners in eastern Riyadh, an area where several expatriate housing compounds are located. German diplomats declined to confirm the identity of the victim, named by the Arab News newspaper as Jonathan Hermann Bengler. Saudi authorities said he worked for a catering company supplying the national airlines Saudia. Newspaper reports said the victim was shot several times in the head and body by a masked gunman, accompanied by one or two accomplices.
| How often do you drag a couple of your buds along when you're indulging in a spontaneous act of rage? |
Al-Watan newspaper showed pictures of his body slumped at the wheel of a black Lincoln Town car. "It could have been someone upset at events in Abu Ghraib," said one diplomat. But he added it could also mark a shift of tactics by al Qaeda supporters behind the earlier violence. We've seen them attack compounds, the security services and then Yanbu. So we should expect them to change," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-05-24 |
