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CNN Live At Daybreak
Al Qaeda Claiming Responsibility for Deadly Bombing in Saudi Arabia
Aired November 12, 2003 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to those statements now by al Qaeda. It is claiming responsibility for that deadly bombing of a residential area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But a statement posted on a Web site affiliated with the terrorist network claims the compound was rented by the FBI. And al Qaeda disputes a claim that the victims were mostly Arabs. It claims 30 Saudi security personnel are among the dead and questions why there was so much security for the neighborhood. The al Qaeda statement also disputes Saudi claims that a large number of children died in the bombing.
For more on the al Qaeda claims, we turn to Caroline Faraj, senior editor of cnnarabic.com.
She joins us live by phone from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates -- good morning.
CAROLINE FARAJ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's strange in the first place that al Qaeda would point out this lengthy detailing of its al Qaeda on a Web site. I mean it has every detail of how it carried out the attack.
FARAJ: Well, it's true to a certain extent, but it's started recently to depend on some of the Web sites that we've been basically monitoring for the last few months. They've been basically using it as the main source of information for their all supporters or followers, or even for us as media people.
And, well, we think that this site is very close to al Qaeda and they've been really publishing a lot of stories in there. As you just mentioned, Carol, they're publishing the full details step by step of the attack -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Very strange. So is this housing compound used by the FBI?
FARAJ: Well, this is what they're saying. Their claim is basically that this compound was not a mistake, like what the Saudi officials are saying, it was targeted from the beginning, well planned and successfully done. They are saying that it was rented by the FBI and all those who are living inside, they are not all Arabs. Some of them are Americans, French and German. And they're also saying that, but also the Arabs that were killed, out of the 55, were working as Israeli troops, they were working with the FBI as spies for them, quote, unquote. So they're saying that we managed successfully to reach our target much better even than what happened in May 12 in Riyadh -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So is any of this stuff true?
FARAJ: Any -- sorry, can you repeat? I couldn't hear you.
COSTELLO: Is any of this stuff true?
FARAJ: Well, I cannot tell you if this is true or not, but actually what -- the way they were explaining the attack, it was very close to what we managed to gather from the first few minutes of the attack, from Saudi Arabia. The people were saying, living in the compound, as well as surrounding it, they were saying they heard three explosions while the officials were saying one explosion.
In this statement, they were saying three and they were explaining how it happened. The shooting started from outside and then they managed to kill, according to them, the 30 U.S. -- sorry, the 30 Saudi forces on the main gate then exploded the first main gate, which was solid. And then they entered with two cars only with the drivers to certain areas and they exploded the two cars. So three explosions according to them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to get into this a little bit. One of the reasons al Qaeda may be doing this is it's sensing that it's losing support of the people inside Saudi Arabia.
Is that a fair statement?
FARAJ: It is a fair statement. Well, they're, basically, killing Arabs and Muslims during Ramadan, which is a holy month for Muslims, and also killing a lot of children -- well, in this statement, they're basically defending themselves and saying this is baseless, the Saudi machine and the Saudi media, and they're basically hitting really hard on the interior minister of Saudi Arabia.
They'/re saying that they've been using the media to ruin our reputation, to say that we are -- that we're attacking people in Mecca, the holy city in Saudi Arabia. So what they were saying is that it is unbelievable to have more than 100 charges -- basically children all over the place in the compound, unless it's subversity. They're also questioning why would vehicles guard the compound unless it is run by the FBI or their followers. And they are mentioning that more than 30 people using military vehicles and very strong gates.
So basically they're trying to say that it is -- we are not targeting civilians, innocent civilians, we are targeting those who are working with the FBI -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Caroline Faraj, senior editor of cnnarabic.com, thanks for joining us live by phone from Dubai this morning.
CNN's David Ensor has a report on our Web site about how this attack could backfire on al Qaeda. When you log on, go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Saudi Arabia>
Aired November 12, 2003 - 05:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to those statements now by al Qaeda. It is claiming responsibility for that deadly bombing of a residential area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But a statement posted on a Web site affiliated with the terrorist network claims the compound was rented by the FBI. And al Qaeda disputes a claim that the victims were mostly Arabs. It claims 30 Saudi security personnel are among the dead and questions why there was so much security for the neighborhood. The al Qaeda statement also disputes Saudi claims that a large number of children died in the bombing.
For more on the al Qaeda claims, we turn to Caroline Faraj, senior editor of cnnarabic.com.
She joins us live by phone from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates -- good morning.
CAROLINE FARAJ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's strange in the first place that al Qaeda would point out this lengthy detailing of its al Qaeda on a Web site. I mean it has every detail of how it carried out the attack.
FARAJ: Well, it's true to a certain extent, but it's started recently to depend on some of the Web sites that we've been basically monitoring for the last few months. They've been basically using it as the main source of information for their all supporters or followers, or even for us as media people.
And, well, we think that this site is very close to al Qaeda and they've been really publishing a lot of stories in there. As you just mentioned, Carol, they're publishing the full details step by step of the attack -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Very strange. So is this housing compound used by the FBI?
FARAJ: Well, this is what they're saying. Their claim is basically that this compound was not a mistake, like what the Saudi officials are saying, it was targeted from the beginning, well planned and successfully done. They are saying that it was rented by the FBI and all those who are living inside, they are not all Arabs. Some of them are Americans, French and German. And they're also saying that, but also the Arabs that were killed, out of the 55, were working as Israeli troops, they were working with the FBI as spies for them, quote, unquote. So they're saying that we managed successfully to reach our target much better even than what happened in May 12 in Riyadh -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So is any of this stuff true?
FARAJ: Any -- sorry, can you repeat? I couldn't hear you.
COSTELLO: Is any of this stuff true?
FARAJ: Well, I cannot tell you if this is true or not, but actually what -- the way they were explaining the attack, it was very close to what we managed to gather from the first few minutes of the attack, from Saudi Arabia. The people were saying, living in the compound, as well as surrounding it, they were saying they heard three explosions while the officials were saying one explosion.
In this statement, they were saying three and they were explaining how it happened. The shooting started from outside and then they managed to kill, according to them, the 30 U.S. -- sorry, the 30 Saudi forces on the main gate then exploded the first main gate, which was solid. And then they entered with two cars only with the drivers to certain areas and they exploded the two cars. So three explosions according to them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to get into this a little bit. One of the reasons al Qaeda may be doing this is it's sensing that it's losing support of the people inside Saudi Arabia.
Is that a fair statement?
FARAJ: It is a fair statement. Well, they're, basically, killing Arabs and Muslims during Ramadan, which is a holy month for Muslims, and also killing a lot of children -- well, in this statement, they're basically defending themselves and saying this is baseless, the Saudi machine and the Saudi media, and they're basically hitting really hard on the interior minister of Saudi Arabia.
They'/re saying that they've been using the media to ruin our reputation, to say that we are -- that we're attacking people in Mecca, the holy city in Saudi Arabia. So what they were saying is that it is unbelievable to have more than 100 charges -- basically children all over the place in the compound, unless it's subversity. They're also questioning why would vehicles guard the compound unless it is run by the FBI or their followers. And they are mentioning that more than 30 people using military vehicles and very strong gates.
So basically they're trying to say that it is -- we are not targeting civilians, innocent civilians, we are targeting those who are working with the FBI -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Caroline Faraj, senior editor of cnnarabic.com, thanks for joining us live by phone from Dubai this morning.
CNN's David Ensor has a report on our Web site about how this attack could backfire on al Qaeda. When you log on, go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Saudi Arabia>
