13 May 2003
Bombing in Riyadh Called "Well-Planned Terrorist Attack"
(Reeker describes Saudi cooperation as "outstanding") (3380) State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker said the May 13 bombing in Saudi Arabia was as "a well-planned terrorist attack." Speaking at the regular State Department briefing May 13, Reeker said U.S. officials believe seven American citizens are among the dead, and that at least 39 Americans were injured in the bombing. He said it was possible that the numbers could change. Describing Saudi cooperation as "outstanding," Reeker said a U.S. interagency team, including officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would be going to Saudi Arabia to assist in the investigation. "We've had excellent cooperation with Saudi Arabia with this attack, over the last, not quite 24 hours. Saudi cooperation has been outstanding," Reeker said. "These are threats, as we've seen that were carried out against Saudi Arabia as well," he said. Reeker mentioned the U.S.-Saudi Joint Working Group on Terrorism, which was created in 2002. "This structure has further improved and formalized our cooperation and our efforts in countering terrorism. It's established a solid mechanism for joint activities, exchange of information, and setting of mutual priorities in this battle," he said. Following are excerpts on the Riyadh bombing from the May 13 State Department briefing: (begin excerpt) MR. REEKER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the State Department. Secretary Powell, as you know, is on his way to Moscow having left Riyadh a short while ago. He woke up this morning in Amman, Jordan and then visited Riyadh, where he also had an opportunity to tour the site of the horrible terrorist bombings that took place last night and early this morning in Saudi Arabia. As the Secretary has indicated, we condemn in the strongest terms, the series of terrorist bombings in Riyadh. At this time, we believe at least seven American citizens were among those killed in this ruthless murder and at least 30 American citizens were injured. Those numbers could increase, of course, as more information becomes available. In addition, obviously, many more, other nationals were injured and some killed, including Saudis, including Filipinos and other nationals. We extend our condolences to the families and friends of those killed and our best wishes to those injured. Our consular officials in Riyadh are on the ground at the site providing assistance to American citizens working closely with Saudi officials. They are visiting hospitals. They are notifying families of the victims, and we will, of course, continue to offer all the assistance that we can at this time of sorrow and grief. We are working closely with Saudi officials. As I said, and as you heard Secretary Powell say from Riyadh, an inter-agency team, including officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will be arriving soon in Saudi Arabia soon to assist with the investigation. Obviously, the Saudi Government may have more details on the investigation, and as official numbers of those killed, injured and missing become available, we'll be keeping in very close contact with the Saudi officials. This was clearly a well-planned terrorist attack. As the Secretary indicated, it had all the fingerprints, earmarks of al-Qaida. But of course, a final determination in this attack of who is responsible will depend upon the results of the ongoing investigation. These were people determined to murder innocents as they slept. And you'll note that our Travel Warning issued at the beginning of the month, on May 1st, for Saudi Arabia warned U.S. citizens to defer nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia because we were aware, as were others, and the Saudis were working on this, too, that terrorist groups may be in the final stages of planning attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia. So we continue to advise U.S. citizens to evaluate their own security situation and consider departing Saudi Arabia. We will be reevaluating our advice for travel and residence in Saudi Arabia on a continuing basis. I would note that the American School in Riyadh has suspended classes for the duration of the week. And, obviously, our Ambassador and his team in Riyadh are working round the clock, literally, to determine natures of threats to U.S. personnel and to U.S. installations in the American citizen community there. With that, I did want to make one short announcement that ties into terrorism, and that is a notice we will put out right after the briefing on the re-designation of the Real IRA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. We are announcing today the re-designation of the Real Irish Republican Army; also know as the RIRA and other aliases, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law. This Foreign Terrorist Organization, as you will recall, was first designated two years ago and designations last for a two-year period, so that's what prompts this designation today. The Real IRA is a militant group that seeks to end British rule in Northern Ireland and bring about political incorporation of Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland, and during the past two years they have continued their terrorist activities. So our full notice on that is today in the Federal Register and a statement will be put out after the briefing. Questions? QUESTION: On that designation, has nothing been changed in the law or in the law's post -- they were designated pre-9/11, and is there anything in this re-designation that is intended to bring it up to -- to keep it -- to make it conform with any changes in the FTO rules that you're aware of, or is it simply that it was -- MR. REEKER: I would have to go back and check the entire designation. It was about to expire. It was two years ago that this -- that we made this announcement, and therefore we are re-designating according to the Federal Register notice. You'll see that. It keeps the current number of officially designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations under U.S. law currently at 36, is that number. So, George. QUESTION: Getting back to the travel advisory, which, as you pointed out, expressed the possibility of a clear danger to Americans based on a potential terrorist attack, and I was wondering what was done in the aftermath to shore up security for Americans in Riyadh and elsewhere in light of the potential threat? MR. REEKER: Well, as the Travel Warning indicated, when it was put out on May the 1st updating our alerts to U.S. citizens about the increased security concerns there, we continued to have Authorized Departure for dependents and nonessential personnel on a voluntary basis from our Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Clearly, our Embassy, working with local officials, Saudi officials who are responsible for security of diplomats and diplomatic property, work together, as we do all around the world, to make sure our security is at the highest levels of alert. I will remind you that we have not only the Travel Warning for Saudi Arabia; we have another Travel Warning or Public Announcement in effect for the entire region, for the Middle East and North Africa. We last updated that on May the 5th, so we do have continuing concern about the threat of anti-American violence and terrorist actions that may target civilians specifically in those regions. We remain deeply concerned about the security of U.S. citizens overseas, all U.S. citizens and, of course, official Americans connected to our posts abroad, as well; and so we are encouraging a high level of vigilance to take appropriate steps, as necessary, to consider their safety, think about their travel. We also have a Public Announcement for East Africa, which remains in effect, and the continuing potential for terrorist actions in that part of the world. And, of course, we have a Worldwide Caution, which has been regularly updated -- most recently, April 21st -- that is last month, reminding U.S. citizens of these continuing threats. All around the world we work with local host governments to make sure that we can provide the best security possible for our facilities and for obviously for all Americans and for third-country nationals and nationals of the host-government, as well. These are threats, as we've seen, that were carried out against Saudi Arabia, as well, and I think you saw the comments of the Saudi Foreign Minister when he was with Secretary Powell earlier today talking about increasing our efforts, not hesitating to take whatever measure is necessary to oppose these people who are fueled by hate and seek out to murder innocent civilians. Terri. QUESTION: -- may have been asking -- what on the ground, what specific measures did you take on the ground to protect -- MR. REEKER: I'm not going to try to describe individual security members, I think it is most prudent for us not to go into that type of detail but we are continuously reevaluating, continuously reevaluating our security -- QUESTION: But some measures were taken? MR. REEKER: -- in light of the various threats, the ones that we outlined publicly, as well, when we have this type of information that is specific and noncounterable, we make the public aware of that as well and we work very closely with our own security as well as the host country security. We've had excellent cooperation with Saudi Arabia with this attack. Over the last, not quite 24 hours, Saudi cooperation has been outstanding. As I indicated earlier, getting an accurate number of victims is going to be difficult in the early stages of this and that's why we're reluctant to pin down any particular numbers as we have to go through information about who was present at these facilities that were attacked, recover of remains, and making estimates of those presumed missing. And, of course, we have a responsibility in terms of American citizens to notify next-of-kin, and I know the Saudis are working with a number of third-country embassies in Riyadh, as well. Betsy. QUESTION: Well, the Vice President isn't adhering to those rules, and he just said that seven Americans have been killed and that there were 91 dead from the bombings -- not just Americans. MR. REEKER: Yes. When I started my comments, I said at least seven Americans were killed. That was the number that we are looking at now in terms of killed Americans, or Americans among those killed. 91 is a number that has been out there. It's one of the reports that indicates the severity of this attack. It indicates that we have a ways to go in pinpointing definitive numbers. QUESTION: Do you have any idea of those numbers? MR. REEKER: I can't give you a specific, accurate number on that. As I said, a lot of work has to go into verifying these numbers, but that is one estimate that has been put out there. I have seen it in a number of reports. We're going to be very careful about giving you information as we know it, bus as the Vice President indicated, that type of number, that type of death toll shows how truly vicious this type of attack is. QUESTION: Are you aware of any claim of responsibility? MR. REEKER: I have seen some media reports, but I am not aware of any official claims of responsibility. That will obviously be part of the investigation that we will be working on with Saudi authorities. Elise. QUESTION: Philip, in the Travel Warning, you said that you believed that al-Qaida was in the final stages of planning an attack against America. Do you believe that -- MR. REEKER: Actually, I don't believe we used that terminology. QUESTION: I believe the words "final phases of phases of planning an attack'' MR. REEKER: It didn't say al-Qaida. QUESTION: Okay, but the infor -- I'm sorry. Do you believe that those were the attacks? That these attacks were, indeed, the attacks you believe that terrorists were in the final phases of? MR. REEKER: I think that's the type of a determination that an investigation would have to make definitive. As the Secretary indicated to you, these attacks bore many of the hallmarks, if you will, of al-Qaida's type of attack and so that is clearly one assumption that people may need to put into their calculations as this investigation goes forth. Our warning, not only for Saudi Arabia but for other parts of the region and around the world, as I said, is broadly about threats from terrorists to Americans, to American facilities. QUESTION: But in terms of the threat that's still out there, this Travel Warning said that you believed that terrorists were in the final planning stages. Do you have any indications that terrorist attacks are still in the planning stages against American interests in Saudi Arabia? MR. REEKER: The Travel Warning that we have remains valid and that language remains operable. We will be looking to see whether we change or adjust that language over the coming hours and days. The terrorist threat doesn't disappear just because they perpetrate one appalling attack. The war on terror continues. As the President said, we are patient, but we are relentless in this and we will continue to work with all the other countries around the world who are part of this war against terrorism and utilizing all the tools we have against it. QUESTION: Just one more. Last night, there were some officials that were saying the Embassy was advising Americans to stay at home until you can assess the threat that's still out there, assess what's going on. In these early stages after the attack, is that still the advice of the State Department, for Americans in the country to stay at home? MR. REEKER: Our what we call a Warden Message, which was issued by our Embassy to the American community in Saudi Arabia -- that includes official Americans connected to the U.S. Government, but also other Americans, citizens there -- strongly advises American citizens in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to use extreme caution and remain vigilant. We noted that we have warned American citizens to defer nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia and we continue to do that. And we counseled private Americans currently in Saudi Arabia to evaluate their own security and consider departing Saudi Arabia and we will continue to reevaluate that. The children and dependents of mission personnel, that is, U.S. Government officials in Saudi Arabia, are not attending school and mission personnel have been instructed to stay home except for essential official business. Matt, and then Adi. QUESTION: Along the lines of Elise's first question, which was about a link, and I realize it's very early and you may not know this, but do you guys have any indication that this attack was related at all to the arrests or the people that the Saudis said that they were looking for? I think there were 19 or 17 that they said that last week, after your warning came out. Is there any sign that this may -- MR. REEKER: Again, I think it would be too early to try to speculate. As you all are aware, Saudi authorities seized a large cache of explosives last week that suggested planning for an imminent terrorist attack, and it was clearly tied in with the information on which we were basing our warnings and the actions we were taking. Obviously, their investigation into that cache of explosives continues. And I really wouldn't want to speculate whether it was tied to that or their arrests, but those are the types of things the investigation will examine. QUESTION: And then just the last thing. Elise made the connection between al-Qaida and the May 1st -- well, actually, the April 30th warning that the Embassy put out before the State Department put out its own warning. Are you prepared at all to say that that -- the terrorist group or groups that you were talking about in that was, in fact, al-Qaida? MR. REEKER: Well, al-Qaida remains a threat that we've talked about, but they aren't the only threat and I'm not going to try to go to that level of specificity based on the intelligence and other information that we have on these threats. Adi. QUESTION: You have officials from Washington now heading over to Saudi Arabia. Would you now consider this a joint American-Saudi investigation into what happened yesterday? And secondly, what do you plan to do about the fact that, in some circles anyway, the Saudis are not seen as the best team players when it comes to joint investigations, going back to Khobar in 1995? MR. REEKER: Well, what is seen in some circles isn't what's important. What's important is what we're doing. And I think you heard the comments of the Saudi Foreign Minister and you heard Secretary Powell following his meetings there today. Obviously, this wasn't the topic we were expecting to discuss, but clearly topped the agenda as the Secretary met with the Foreign Minister and with Crown Prince Abdallah. We are working very closely with Saudi officials at the sites of these attacks. Our Embassy security personnel are clearly involved and a team is going out, as I indicated, an interagency team that includes FBI officials. They will arrive soon and assist with the investigation. We will continue working with the Saudis and we are pleased with the overall level of cooperation in the war on terrorism. As you know, we received good cooperation from the Saudis on counterterrorism initiatives. We are maintaining an ongoing dialogue. Clearly, this attack will now be a part of that dialogue informally, and I will remind you of the U.S.-Saudi Joint Working Group on Terrorism which was created last year. This structure has further improved and formalized our cooperation and our efforts in countering terrorism. It has established a solid mechanism for joint activities, exchange of information and setting of mutual priorities in this battle. On our side, of course, it is chaired by our Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Ambassador Cofer Black. And so we will continue to use that mechanism as well. QUESTION: But who is leading the investigation? MR. REEKER: Well, it is a Saudi site, so the Saudis have an investigation that we will work on them with. At this point, I don't think I can describe specifically leads. I don't think that is what's important. I think what's important is working together, as we have been, not only on this specific case, but in rooting out these terrorists, rooting out their finances, using law enforcement to round up and arrest terrorists and putting an end to this scourge. QUESTION: Can I follow up, please? MR. REEKER: Yes, Elise. QUESTION: As a matter of course though, if it's not a U.S. diplomatic or military facility that's attacked, and it's on another country's soil but Americans are killed in such an attack, as a matter of course, do you defer to the host country of that site in terms of the investigation and taking the lead, or because of our -- MR. REEKER: We work together with them on this. That's why a team is going out. That's why our security personnel on the ground are -- QUESTION: Well, of course, you're going to work with them. But do you defer to them in terms of how the investigation is run, things like that, and you assist? Or, because Americans were killed, do you feel as if it's America's responsibility to do its own investigation? MR. REEKER: We will be working with the Saudis, perhaps other countries as well who have lost people in this. American citizens were killed and clearly Saudis were killed and other third-country nationals were killed. This was a direct attack upon Saudi Arabia as well as against Americans and American interests. And so we will continue to cooperate. On that level, the semantics of these types of things I don't think are important. What's important is that we are working, as the President described, patiently and relentlessly to counter this terrorist threat, which is still out there and remains our number one priority. (end excerpt) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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