U.S. pledges to help Saudi war on terror after weekend attacks

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The United States pledged to help Saudi Arabia in its war on terror after a suicide car bombing killed at least 17 people in its capital, and the U.S. Embassy slightly relaxed security restrictions Monday on its staff and their families.

Police, military guards and armored vehicles blocked the roads leading to the compound housing mostly Arab foreigners that was targeted in Saturday's attack. Security also was heavier Monday at compounds for Western foreigners.

The U.S. Embassy said that after a daily review of the threat level, staff and their families were told they could now travel outside Riyadh's heavily guarded diplomatic quarter to which they had been ordered restricted Saturday. But it said the embassy, which had closed Saturday before the bombings because of terror warnings, would remain shut indefinitely.

Saudi authorities have also said they will increase security in Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Security officials said they were particularly concerned about the last 10 days of the fasting month of Ramadan, when some 2 million Muslims are expected to perform the "omra," or minor pilgrimage, to Mecca. Ramadan ends around Nov. 24.

After a Nov. 3 Mecca shootout that left two suspects dead, Saudi authorities confiscated a large cache of weapons in Mecca, birthplace of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

Saturday's atttack in Riyadh was portrayed by Saudis as proof of the al-Qaida terror network's willingness to shed Arab and Muslim blood as well in its zeal to bring down the U.S.-linked Saudi monarchy. At least 13 of those killed were Arabs, with four as yet unidentified, an Interior Ministry official told the official Saudi news agency. Five were children.

In the attack, gunmen battled security guards at the compound of about 200 houses, located in a ravine surrounded by hills. Then the attackers, believed to be in a police car, drove into the compound and blew themselves up.

Along with the dead, 122 people were injured -- and most of the casualties were Lebanese. The attack left piles of rubble, hunks of twisted metal, broken glass and a large crater in the compound located not far from the diplomatic quarter and the king's main palace.

The United States joined countries around the world in expressing condolences and pledging to stand by Saudi Arabia.

"On behalf of my nation I will just pledge that we will be fully participating partners if that is the desire of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who arrived Sunday night in the Saudi capital on a previously scheduled visit to discuss U.S.-Saudi cooperation in counterterrorism and other areas.

Armitage, echoing initial Saudi assessments, said he was "personally quite sure" al-Qaida was behind the car bombing "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.

Jordan's King Abdullah II expressed his "categorical and strong condemnation" of the bombing, the official Petra news agency reported Monday. The king assured Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in a phone call that "Jordan stands with its brothers in Saudi Arabia and rejects attempts to destabilize the kingdom," the news agency said.

The secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Abdel Wahid Balqziz, denounced the Riyadh bombing as a "horrendous terrorist act" in a statement released Monday.

Al-Qaida, led by Saudi-born, fugitive multimillionaire Osama bin Laden, has long opposed the Saudi royal family, accusing it of being insufficiently Islamic and too close to the West, particularly the United States.

In comments published Sunday on the Web site of Saudi daily Okaz newspaper, 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.

"It's become a war on the regime, a war to turn the country into a new Afghanistan ruled by a Saudi-style Taliban," said Dawood al- Shirian, a Saudi analyst.

An Interior Ministry official told The Associated Press that the compound attack was by a suicide car bomber and resembled car bombings May 12 on three Riyadh compounds housing foreigners. Those attacks, blamed on al-Qaida, killed 35 people, including nine suicide bombers.

Armitage also cited "similarities to the May 12 attacks," and said "some of the al-Qaida Web sites and things of that nature have been speculating about this type of event."

The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar, condemned the attack and said Saudi Arabia is "at war with these terrorists."

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