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U.S. Warns Terrorists May Target Westerners in Jeddah
Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:00 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.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: It is 3:00 p.m. here in the nation's capital, noon on the West Coast. I'm Kate Snow live from Washington. Judy Woodruff is off today.
Americans in Saudi Arabia are on edge and may be in danger again. Just days after deadly attacks in Riyadh, the U.S. is warning terrorists may target Westerners in the Saudi city of Jeddah in the very near future.
Meantime, Saudi officials are promising to redouble their fight against terror. CNN senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, joins US on the phone from Riyadh -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kate, U.S. officials say there is no specific information about the threat to Westerners in Jetta. They say they have no specific knowledge about location or timing, but they say they have picked up enough intelligence information over the course of the last couple of days that led them to issue the warning. Of course, this comes after the Monday night attacks, that triple attack in Riyadh.
Now the area in Jeddah, which is a Saudi city on the Red Sea, is a coastal area, a place right along the seafront. It's a place that's popular with Westerners. And unlike Riyadh, where Westerners tend to cluster together in compounds, people live throughout the city.
So in the words of one U.S. official, there is sort of, if you will, no one particular U.S. target other than the U.S. consulate itself. Now the U.S. consulate, I'm told, will be open tomorrow it's expected. And it is known that some of the families, the American families in Jeddah have taken that warning very seriously and have moved elsewhere, some of them leaving their homes.
Meanwhile, the investigation here in Riyadh continues into the Monday night attack. FBI agents are on the scene, on the ground here in Saudi Arabia. Today, of course, being a Friday, the day of Islamic rest, there was a lot of liasing (ph) and so far not a lot of evidence gathering for them to do. I'm told that that's expected to start tomorrow -- Kate.
SNOW: Sheila, I know Saudi officials here in Washington have really been on the defense today, trying to say that they did prepare and they did heed those warnings. What are you hearing over there in Saudi Arabia? Is there still finger pointing?
MACVICAR: There's a lot of finger pointing and there's a lot of very nervous Westerners who are wondering what precisely happened on Monday night. I was at one of the three compounds that was hit, a compound called Jadawal (ph), which is very close to the area where Saudi officials found a large cache of weapons and explosives early in May.
Now this is the compound that the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia specifically raised with Saudi officials. Saudi officials in Washington saying today that they believe security was adequate. It did turn out that the bombers were not able to get their vehicle into the compound and detonate it inside the compound. Detonating it, instead, at the front gate, killing seven people there. But people in the compound are extremely jittery and wondering why the kind of security out in front of the compound today wasn't in place on Monday.
SNOW: Sheila MacVicar, reporting live from Riyadh. Thank you, Sheila.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: It is 3:00 p.m. here in the nation's capital, noon on the West Coast. I'm Kate Snow live from Washington. Judy Woodruff is off today.
Americans in Saudi Arabia are on edge and may be in danger again. Just days after deadly attacks in Riyadh, the U.S. is warning terrorists may target Westerners in the Saudi city of Jeddah in the very near future.
Meantime, Saudi officials are promising to redouble their fight against terror. CNN senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, joins US on the phone from Riyadh -- Sheila.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kate, U.S. officials say there is no specific information about the threat to Westerners in Jetta. They say they have no specific knowledge about location or timing, but they say they have picked up enough intelligence information over the course of the last couple of days that led them to issue the warning. Of course, this comes after the Monday night attacks, that triple attack in Riyadh.
Now the area in Jeddah, which is a Saudi city on the Red Sea, is a coastal area, a place right along the seafront. It's a place that's popular with Westerners. And unlike Riyadh, where Westerners tend to cluster together in compounds, people live throughout the city.
So in the words of one U.S. official, there is sort of, if you will, no one particular U.S. target other than the U.S. consulate itself. Now the U.S. consulate, I'm told, will be open tomorrow it's expected. And it is known that some of the families, the American families in Jeddah have taken that warning very seriously and have moved elsewhere, some of them leaving their homes.
Meanwhile, the investigation here in Riyadh continues into the Monday night attack. FBI agents are on the scene, on the ground here in Saudi Arabia. Today, of course, being a Friday, the day of Islamic rest, there was a lot of liasing (ph) and so far not a lot of evidence gathering for them to do. I'm told that that's expected to start tomorrow -- Kate.
SNOW: Sheila, I know Saudi officials here in Washington have really been on the defense today, trying to say that they did prepare and they did heed those warnings. What are you hearing over there in Saudi Arabia? Is there still finger pointing?
MACVICAR: There's a lot of finger pointing and there's a lot of very nervous Westerners who are wondering what precisely happened on Monday night. I was at one of the three compounds that was hit, a compound called Jadawal (ph), which is very close to the area where Saudi officials found a large cache of weapons and explosives early in May.
Now this is the compound that the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia specifically raised with Saudi officials. Saudi officials in Washington saying today that they believe security was adequate. It did turn out that the bombers were not able to get their vehicle into the compound and detonate it inside the compound. Detonating it, instead, at the front gate, killing seven people there. But people in the compound are extremely jittery and wondering why the kind of security out in front of the compound today wasn't in place on Monday.
SNOW: Sheila MacVicar, reporting live from Riyadh. Thank you, Sheila.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
