LONDON — Saudi Arabia launched a nuclear program
with assistance from Pakistan, according to a new report.
On Saturday, the German magazine Cicero, quoting Western intelligence
sources said, Saudi Arabia launched its nuclear program in 2003. The
magazine said Pakistani scientists arrived in the Saudi kingdom to make
preparations for a nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia has also established an underground city at Al
Sulayel, south of Riyad. Cicero said satellite images analyzed by Western
intelligence agencies have determined that Al Sulayel contains dozens of
underground silos for Pakistan's intermediate-range Ghauri missiles.
Both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have denied the report, Middle East Newsline reported.
Between October 2004 and January 2005, visiting Pakistani scientists
spent up to three weeks away from their Saudi hotels to work on Riyad's
nuclear program, German security analyst Udo Ulfkotte told Cicero. The
Pakistanis were said to have been disguised as Islamic pilgrims.
At the same time, Saudi scientists have been training in
Pakistan to develop a nuclear program. Cicero said the Saudis have been
working in Pakistan's nuclear program since the mid-1990s.
The Cicero article was the latest in a series of reports that told of
Pakistani-Saudi nuclear and missile cooperation. In 2003, Western
intelligence sources reported that Islamabad and Riyad signed such an
agreement.
U.S. military analyst John Pike told Cicero that Saudi Arabia financed
much of Islambad's nuclear weapons program. Pike said Saudi bar codes could
be found on half of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
"It is a fabricated and baseless story, motivated by vicious
intentions," Pakistan Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. "As a
responsible nuclear state, Pakistan has taken all measures to strengthen its
export control."
A Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman said the Cicero report was "totally
unfounded." The Saudi official said Riyad "advocates imposing nuclear
non-proliferation in the [Middle East] region.">
