For the first time, Al Qaida has openly threatened the
Saudi royal family.
An Al Qaida statement said it would take revenge on the royal family if
they kill Saudi clerics aligned with the group. So far, two Saudi imams, or
preachers, have been killed during a Saudi crackdown on Al
Qaida in Riyad, accoding to Islamic sources.
Al Qaida has sent an e-mail to Arabic newspapers that relayed the threat
against the royal family. The e-mail's content was published in the
London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, one of the few major Arabic dailies not owned
by the kingdom.
The kingdom has arrested 11 suspected Al
Qaida members connected to the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyad, and said
the two imams were among them, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Sheik Osama [Bin Laden] and the leaders of Al Qaida in Afghanistan are
closely following reports of the deaths of Sheik Ali Al Khodeir and Ahmed
A-Khaledi," the e-mail attributed to Al Qaida said. "If it was especially
confirmed that Sheik Ali Al Khodeir was martyred then our response against
the Al Saud family will be as great as the sheik is to us."
Islamic sources said the two clerics were killed in police raids on
Monday in Medina.
Al Qaida was said to have launched a campaign against two senior members
of the royal family and its relations with the United States earlier this
month. They were identified as Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin
Abdul Aziz and Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz.
But the e-mail was the first time Al Qaida openly threatened the Saudi
leadership. Khodeir and Khaledi were said to have issued fatwas, or
religious rulings, against Saudi leaders for their support of the U.S.-led
war in Iraq.
In a related development, Iran is said to have arrested the spokesman
for Al Qaida, Suleiman Abu Gheith. The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily
reported on Friday that Iran informed the United States of Abu Gheith's
arrest.
Abu Gheith, a Kuwaiti national, had publicly warned the United States of
additional attacks in wake of the suicide strikes on New York and Washington
on Sept. 11, 2001. The newspaper reported that Iran has arrested several Al
Qaida members and extradited to Saudi Arabia citizens of the kingdom.
