|
Assassination attempt on King Fahd?
Source is Taliban-news.com. Fair-sized grain of salt required. But, there are those dead Soddies...The report of an attempt to murder King Fahd is the talk of the moment in the Gulf. It is claimed that on July 14, the monarchâs bodyguard fought off a band of 5 to 7 intruders, who gained entry to the palace courtyard in Jeddah through one of the main gates after setting off a large explosive charge. Three of the would be assassins were killed; the rest fled when armed reinforcements poured in from neighboring princely palaces, together with a contingent of the special Saudi counter-"terror" force. The bodies were identified as Saudi members of al Qaeda who fought in Afghanistan, escaped through Iran and arrived home last January. The identity of one of the dead assailants seriously heated factional tempers in the royal family; he is said to have been a member of the Uteiba tribe, loyal adherents of crown prince Abdullah. Well, ain't that loyal of him? Y'mean Crown Prince Abdullah, the "pro-American" guy? So, we get a hit attempt on the old man, then a week later one prince dead of natural causes and the next day another of unnatural causes. A week after that another one. And yesterday the head of the World Association of Muslim Youth. Doing a quick scan of Rantburg back to September 11th of last year, I come up with no — that's zero — dead Soddy princes... For some months, the Sudeiri princes have warned Abdullah that his permissive policy toward returning al Qaeda fighters â and the lavish living allowances awarded them from religious institutions and charities â would lead to trouble in the kingdom. Some have hired out as bodyguards protecting the princes of Abdullahâs faction, religious leaders and tribal chiefs in the Jeddah district. Sudeiri prince Salman, governor of the Riyadh region, was fiercest in his criticism. He warned Abdullah that by making Saudi intelligence and security services grant the returning Mujahideen clearances as bodyguards for official personalities, he was effectively opening the door to al Qaedaâs penetration of the national security agencies. Ummm... Surely that's not what he intended to do? Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-08-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=6217 |