RIYADH (Reuters) - Troops scoured Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, soon to be joined by the FBI (news - web sites), in the hunt for the suspected al Qaeda masterminds of suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed more than 29 people.
At least seven Americans were among the dead pulled from the wreckage of three expatriate housing complexes after the blasts, which President Bush (news - web sites) said showed the war on terror launched after September 11, 2001 was far from over.
"We've destroyed about one half of al Qaeda, the top operators of al Qaeda, and that's good. But we've got more work to do," Bush said. Almost 200 people were wounded in the blasts.
FBI director Robert Mueller said a team of agents would leave for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to help the authorities there, who lost track of 19 al Qaeda suspects last week after a shootout in the capital.
The Saudi ambassador to London said that group was to blame, and a high-level Saudi security official said the army was erecting checkpoints all over the vast desert kingdom.
"By the will of God, we will find them. We are introducing tough new security measures and ask everyone to cooperate," the official told Reuters. U.S. and Saudi officials have said the attacks bore all the hallmarks of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, the group blamed for the 2001 attacks on America which prompted a U.S.-led war on Afghanistan (news - web sites) to try to root it out.
The British Foreign Office said after the blasts there was a "high threat" of further attacks against Western interests in Saudi Arabia, possibly involving chemical or biological weapons. It said two of its citizens were missing and 15 were injured.
A U.S. diplomat in Riyadh said the embassy would lay on evacuation flights for any of the 40,000 or so Americans living in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.
The State Department also told dependants and non-essential staff at the U.S. missions in the kingdom to leave.
WAR ON TERROR CONTINUES
Bush vowed to capture the perpetrators.
"These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate, and the United States will find the killers," he said. "The war on terror continues."
The bombings were carried out just hours before a scheduled visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), who is on a Middle East tour to explain U.S. policy after the overthrow of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and is now in Moscow.
The attacks unleashed a flood of fury against al Qaeda in the ultra-conservative birthplace of Islam where the militant network has many sympathizers.
Many Saudis are angry at the United States for the war on Iraq (news - web sites) and its policies in the region, but many also said innocent expatriates living in their country did not deserve this.
Saudi officials said 29 people died in the attacks, including nine bombers. U.S. officials traveling with Powell said there were seven confirmed American deaths.
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, denounced the attacks as un-Islamic and vowed they would not destabilize the kingdom, where there have been several anti-Western attacks in recent years.
"The terrorists are criminals, butchers and devoid of all Islamic and humane principles," he said in a televised address.
Assailants drove, guns blazing, into three guarded housing compounds for expatriates shortly before midnight and set off huge car bombs. U.S. defense and security officials described the operation as swift and sophisticated.
"Some of the top management may have been captured and a lot of the troops may be dispersed, but al Qaeda lives," said Jane Harman, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
At one well-defended compound housing employees of U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Vinnell Corp subsidiary, the bombers killed two Saudi soldiers and wounded two others at the main gate before blowing the front off a four-storey building housing unaccompanied or bachelor employees.
The company said seven U.S. citizens and two Philippine nationals were killed. Of the 70 men who usually sleep in the building, 50 were out in the desert that night on an exercise with the Saudi military.
At least seven Americans were among the dead pulled from the wreckage of three expatriate housing complexes after the blasts, which President Bush (news - web sites) said showed the war on terror launched after September 11, 2001 was far from over.
"We've destroyed about one half of al Qaeda, the top operators of al Qaeda, and that's good. But we've got more work to do," Bush said. Almost 200 people were wounded in the blasts.
FBI director Robert Mueller said a team of agents would leave for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to help the authorities there, who lost track of 19 al Qaeda suspects last week after a shootout in the capital.
The Saudi ambassador to London said that group was to blame, and a high-level Saudi security official said the army was erecting checkpoints all over the vast desert kingdom.
"By the will of God, we will find them. We are introducing tough new security measures and ask everyone to cooperate," the official told Reuters. U.S. and Saudi officials have said the attacks bore all the hallmarks of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, the group blamed for the 2001 attacks on America which prompted a U.S.-led war on Afghanistan (news - web sites) to try to root it out.
The British Foreign Office said after the blasts there was a "high threat" of further attacks against Western interests in Saudi Arabia, possibly involving chemical or biological weapons. It said two of its citizens were missing and 15 were injured.
A U.S. diplomat in Riyadh said the embassy would lay on evacuation flights for any of the 40,000 or so Americans living in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.
The State Department also told dependants and non-essential staff at the U.S. missions in the kingdom to leave.
WAR ON TERROR CONTINUES
Bush vowed to capture the perpetrators.
"These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate, and the United States will find the killers," he said. "The war on terror continues."
The bombings were carried out just hours before a scheduled visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), who is on a Middle East tour to explain U.S. policy after the overthrow of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and is now in Moscow.
The attacks unleashed a flood of fury against al Qaeda in the ultra-conservative birthplace of Islam where the militant network has many sympathizers.
Many Saudis are angry at the United States for the war on Iraq (news - web sites) and its policies in the region, but many also said innocent expatriates living in their country did not deserve this.
Saudi officials said 29 people died in the attacks, including nine bombers. U.S. officials traveling with Powell said there were seven confirmed American deaths.
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, denounced the attacks as un-Islamic and vowed they would not destabilize the kingdom, where there have been several anti-Western attacks in recent years.
"The terrorists are criminals, butchers and devoid of all Islamic and humane principles," he said in a televised address.
Assailants drove, guns blazing, into three guarded housing compounds for expatriates shortly before midnight and set off huge car bombs. U.S. defense and security officials described the operation as swift and sophisticated.
"Some of the top management may have been captured and a lot of the troops may be dispersed, but al Qaeda lives," said Jane Harman, the senior Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
At one well-defended compound housing employees of U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman Vinnell Corp subsidiary, the bombers killed two Saudi soldiers and wounded two others at the main gate before blowing the front off a four-storey building housing unaccompanied or bachelor employees.
The company said seven U.S. citizens and two Philippine nationals were killed. Of the 70 men who usually sleep in the building, 50 were out in the desert that night on an exercise with the Saudi military.
