Perry in Saudi Arabia to visit bomb site
Perry in Saudi Arabia to visit bomb site
By Christine Hauser
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuter): U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry arrived in Saudi Arabia yesterday to stress the U.S. commitment to remain in the kingdom during talks with officials on a bombing that killed 19 American servicemen.
Perry and Saudi officials were also to discuss tighter security measures for the 5,000 U.S. military personnel serving in the kingdom.
Perry attended a closed briefing with U.S. FBI officials shortly after arriving.
Earlier he told reporters aboard his plane that he would stress the U.S. commitment to remain in Saudi Arabia in talks with Crown Prince Abdullah and Defense Minister Prince Sultan. He said he might also meet King Fahd.
He will visit the bomb site in al-Khobar close to Dhahran. He said investigators suspected Tuesday's blast at a military residential complex could be linked to a similar attack last November that killed five Americans and two Indians at a U.S.-run military training center in Riyadh.
"We are pursuing that lead," Perry said. "We are centering on the possibility that it is the same group that did the November bombing, but it is by no means limited to that."
He cautioned that the investigation was in its early stages. Saudi Arabia in May beheaded four Saudi men who confessed on state television they were behind last year's blast and that they were influenced by Islamic groups and Saudi dissidents. They said they had been planning more attacks.
The Saudi English-language Arab News daily said yesterday Saudi and U.S. investigators had found the crank shaft and chassis of the truck that blew up at the complex, also injuring nearly 400 people.
"...Officials said the chassis contained a serial number that could help track down the truck's origin," it said.
U.S. Air Force spokesman Major James Stratford confirmed the report but would not give further information. Saudi officials were not immediately available to comment.
Arab News quoted Saudi officials as saying authorities had received "a good description of the two men who parked the truck outside the housing compound. They have also identified the getaway car as a white Chevrolet Caprice".
"The Interior Ministry is expected to issue identikits of the suspected bombers shortly," it added.
U.S. and Saudi officials have said two men parked the truck that exploded outside the complex and then fled in a white car.
FBI and other U.S. investigators are helping Saudi police and intelligence officials looking into the attack.
Both the United States and Saudi Arabia have stressed that the two attacks have no effect on their close military and political alliance although new security measures were under review throughout the Gulf.
U.S. servicemen in Saudi are mainly air force personnel who conduct surveillance flights to enforce a United Nations ban on Iraqi flights and troop movements in the southern part of Iraq.
Another 4,000 serve in neighboring Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The total U.S. strength in the region is about 20,000.
On Friday, servicemen at the bombed out apartment complex scrambled to safety after a caller threatened another explosion. It turned out to be a hoax.