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American Morning
Bombing Aftermath
Aired November 10, 2003 - 07:05 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Security is extra tight today in Saudi Arabia. Officials there expect another terror attack at any time. Al Qaeda is suspected of Saturday night's bombing in Riyadh. Seventeen people were killed; 122 more were injured.
Nic Robertson is there. He's reporting for us live on video phone.
Nic -- good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the search is still going on for other bodies. Government sources here tell us they expect that death toll could climb perhaps into the mid 20s.
But what the government here really fears is the possibility of another attack. They say they believe at least one more attack could happen at any time in the near future. They've increased security around Riyadh, increased security in their most holy of cities, Mecca. They put 4,600 troops into that holy city. Three weeks left in the holy month of Ramadan, and the last thing this government here wants is an attack in that holy city that brings millions of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia every year -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic, what's been the reaction of members of the royal family, again, some who say that the attack was actually against them?
ROBERTSON: Absolutely that's what they believe. They believe that this is a classic al Qaeda attack -- that is, Osama bin Laden trying to upseat, uproot the Saudi government. And certainly that was something that Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, said when he met with Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: It's quite clear to me that al Qaeda wants to take down the royal family and the government of Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And what the royal family here says they believe is going on is that al Qaeda is essentially trying to hijack Islam, and they say that because if you look at the attack on Saturday night, it was against Muslims. It wasn't against Westerners. It was Muslims being killed. And that's very much the way it's being seen and felt here in the rest of Saudi Arabia as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us from Riyadh this morning. Nic, thanks for that report.
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 November 10, 2003 - 07:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Security is extra tight today in Saudi Arabia. Officials there expect another terror attack at any time. Al Qaeda is suspected of Saturday night's bombing in Riyadh. Seventeen people were killed; 122 more were injured.
Nic Robertson is there. He's reporting for us live on video phone.
Nic -- good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, the search is still going on for other bodies. Government sources here tell us they expect that death toll could climb perhaps into the mid 20s.
But what the government here really fears is the possibility of another attack. They say they believe at least one more attack could happen at any time in the near future. They've increased security around Riyadh, increased security in their most holy of cities, Mecca. They put 4,600 troops into that holy city. Three weeks left in the holy month of Ramadan, and the last thing this government here wants is an attack in that holy city that brings millions of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia every year -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic, what's been the reaction of members of the royal family, again, some who say that the attack was actually against them?
ROBERTSON: Absolutely that's what they believe. They believe that this is a classic al Qaeda attack -- that is, Osama bin Laden trying to upseat, uproot the Saudi government. And certainly that was something that Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, said when he met with Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: It's quite clear to me that al Qaeda wants to take down the royal family and the government of Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And what the royal family here says they believe is going on is that al Qaeda is essentially trying to hijack Islam, and they say that because if you look at the attack on Saturday night, it was against Muslims. It wasn't against Westerners. It was Muslims being killed. And that's very much the way it's being seen and felt here in the rest of Saudi Arabia as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us from Riyadh this morning. Nic, thanks for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
