The wanted Saudi militant who attacked the kingdom’s anti-terror chief after pretending he wanted to surrender blew himself up while the official was on the phone reassuring another militant in Yemen it would be safe to return home, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
The disclosure offered a strange twist to an already surprising story. The events that led up to last Thursday’s attack began when Yemen-based Saudi militant, Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, got in touch with authorities, saying he wanted to turn himself in to Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, said a ministry statement.
The prince, who is the kingdom’s assistant interior minister, agreed to see Assiri and received him at his home in the western seaport of Jiddah late last Thursday during a gathering to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the statement said.
During the meeting, Assiri, who was on the country’s most wanted list, told Mohammed that other Saudi militants who had fled to Yemen following the kingdom’s fierce anti-terror campaign wanted to surrender too but were seeking safe passage from the prince.
“They wanted to hear this by phone from the prince himself,” the statement said.
The statement said contact was made with one of the men in Yemen while Assiri was in the same room as the prince.
“The explosion occurred during the phone call,” it said. “It led to the death of the wanted man.”
CARNAGE
The prince was only lightly injured. Government-run Saudi TV showed bits of human flesh embedded in the wreckage in the room where the attack occurred. The torso of the bomber lay on the floor, and a hand was shown pulling down an arm that had stuck to the ceiling.
The Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attack, identifying Assiri as the bomber.
Saudi officials have expressed concern that instability in neighboring Yemen could provide al-Qaeda a sanctuary from which they could conduct cross-border attacks in the kingdom.
The White House criticized the attack as a “cowardly act” and said it underscored the importance of strong cooperation between the US and Middle East allies like Saudi Arabia in fighting al-Qaeda.
The attack was the first major setback to the kingdom’s anti-terror efforts since February 2006, when suicide bombers tried but failed to attack an oil facility at the Abqaiq oil complex, the world’s largest oil processing facility, in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The ministry statement said investigations have uncovered more details about the attack that will not be revealed at this time for security reasons.
In remarks early last Friday, Mohammed said he ordered guards not to search the attacker when he arrived at his home. Saudi officials have said the prince, who heads the country’s anti-terror program, wanted to treat the militant with respect and trust to encourage other wanted militants to come forward.
NOTHING TO FEAR
The prince sounded friendly during the call and tried to put Assiri at ease.
When the militant said others were afraid of surrendering, the prince was heard saying, “What are they scared of?”
There have been various media reports about how Assiri blew himself up. One by the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television network said the attacker concealed the explosives in his anus, allowing him to evade detection.
The network also quoted an expert as saying that the method of concealment aimed the blast away from the target, while blowing the bomber to bits.
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