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Saudis: Four Detainees Have Links to al Qaeda, Attacks
Three bombers said to have been part of terrorist network

Monday, May 19, 2003
(6:41 AM ET) (10:41 GMT)
The Cable News Network

President Bush said Friday that the Riyadh attacks gave many people around the world a "wake-up call" that the war on terror continues. From the White House, Bush said the attacks were a reminder that the United States is "still at war." "The best way to secure the future of the American people is to find the killers before they strike us, and that's what we're doing inside Saudi Arabia," Bush said.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- CNN
Four people believed to be linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network have been detained in connection with last week's deadly terror attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Interior minister said.

Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz said each had prior knowledge of the bombings.

U.S. officials have said they also believe al Qaeda was behind the nearly simultaneous bombings last Monday at three residential compounds that killed 25 people, including eight Americans, in addition to the nine suspected bombers.

The prince said three of the nine bombers who participated in the attacks have been identified. Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir told CNN that those identified "were part of an al Qaeda cell that we came very close to apprehending."

The bombers who have been identified were among 19 people listed by the Saudi government in a dispatch earlier this month, Abdulaziz said. The dispatch said it was seeking the men -- all but two of them Saudi citizens -- on suspicion of planning a terrorist incident.
(More: CNN.com)
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Dan