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.