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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (264)	11/14/2001 12:57:52 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 32591

Palestinian Accused in Khobar Bombing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:09 a.m. ET RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- A Palestinian was responsible for a bombing in Saudi Arabia last month that killed him and an American, and police were trying to determine whether it was a suicide attack, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Until now, Saudi authorities had said they were unable to identify the second man killed in the Oct. 6 blast in the eastern Saudi town of Khobar and had not acknowledged he was responsible for the attack. On Wednesday, an Internior Ministry official quoted by the officials Saudi news agency, identified the second man as Ayman bin Mohammed abu Zinad, 30. Saudi investigators were trying to determine the motive and whether abu Zinad had intended to kill himself in the explosion. The blast came a day before the United States launched a bombing campaign against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, accused of harboring Osama bin Laden, the No. 1 suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York. Anti-American sentiment had been high in Saudi Arabia even before the air campaign began. At first, Saudi sources had suggested the bombing was the latest in a series of blasts in a gang war involving alcohol smugglers in the kingdom. But a few days later, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said he could not rule out a possible link between the Sept. 11 terror attacks and the explosion. The unnamed Interior Ministry official said Wednesday that abu Zinad, a dentist working in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, arrived at his family's home in the eastern city of Dammam, near Khobar, two days before the bombing. Investigators found bomb-making materials as well as two valid Indian passports in his name at his parents' home, the official said. Abu Zinad had studied in India, he said. Investigators also found Egyptian travel documents, which is not unusual for Palestinians, many of whom do not have passports, the official said. Four men -- an American, a Briton and two Filipinos -- also were injured in the blast on a crowded commercial street. Police have made no arrests in the attack. The explosion previously was reported to have been caused by a parcel bomb thrown by a pedestrian. A number of explosions have killed and injured foreigners in Saudi Arabia over the past year. Saudi officials have said those blasts came from disputes between gangs smuggling alcohol, which is forbidden in the kingdom but not difficult to obtain. Three British men have been arrested in connection to some of those blasts. In 1996, 19 U.S. servicemen were killed when members of the dissident Saudi Hezbollah group bombed the Khobar Towers complex in the city. U.S. prosecutors have indicted 14 people in that case. That attack prompted about 4,500 U.S. military personnel in the country to move to Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi desert. nytimes.com