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CNN Sunday Morning

Two Deaths Confirmed in Riyadh Blasts

Aired November 09, 2003 - 09:01   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.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Saudi Arabia, a scene of another horrific terrorist attack. U.S. Embassy staffers in Riyadh right now are hunkered down in the diplomatic quarter. It's not far from the affluent neighborhood devastated last night by at least one car bomb.
Witnesses report hearing three explosions, as well as gunfire. Officials immediately pinned the blame on al Qaeda. Two deaths are confirmed so far, but the death toll will likely be much higher.

CNN terror expert Mike Brooks joins us now by phone with some insight into the situation -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN TERROR EXPERT: Good morning, Renay. Well, this is -- as you know, this is not the first time we have seen this kind of bombing. We go back to last May 12, when three suicide attacks against residential compounds, similar to what we saw, killed eight Americans and killed 35 people, and eight of those Americans.

Then we go back to 1995, the Saudi Arabia national guard bombing, where five Americans were killed there; 1996, the Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 servicemen. You know, Renay, right after the bombing in May, the Saudi officials cracked down on what they thought could never happen in their countries, and they went after a number of terrorist cells. And, you know, they cracked down.

They have a number of arms caches. But again, we have seen this happen again. And we are most likely to see this happen in the future because there are radical fundamentalists, al-Qaeda groups in Saudi Arabia that don't want the United States in there, don't want Westerners there. And they look upon these compounds as places where Westerners and Americans can hunker down, if you will, and carry on their own lifestyle, that which is not suited towards the Saudi Arabians.

SAN MIGUEL: But Mike, there has to be some kind of consolation taken in the fact that there was a warning issued about this so that at least the American compound could make some arrangements for safety. Any significance in this, the fact that this might have come from signals intelligence or maybe even human intelligence, getting the fact that some of these terrorists were ready to go from planning to the operational part of that phase of their campaign?

BROOKS: Well, that's correct. We did hear that they were in an operational phase. And that's why the U.S. Embassy was closed on Saturday.

And this compound, Renay, is only about three miles away from the U.S. Embassy. So I think the intelligence working with the American government and the Saudi government there is getting a little better. You know, the Saudis -- people had said in the past the Saudis were not cooperating with the Americans like they had been. But I think we're looking at cooperation between the Saudi government and the U.S. government is better now, especially on the intelligence side than it has been in a number of years.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. CNN terror expert Mike Brooks, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As we just have been talking about, the attack in Riyadh unfortunately was not a surprise to the Bush administration. The U.S. Embassy staff in Saudi Arabia was put on high alert just the day before, with the embassy and two consulates closed as a precaution.

CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with the very latest from her post.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh has warned officials there, U.S. officials and their families, to stay in the diplomatic quarter, not to venture out into the city following the blast on Saturday, the multiple blasts on Saturday. And a State Department spokesman said one American citizen was wounded in that blast, another is unaccounted for. However, a U.S. official says that it appears all U.S. Embassy personnel are accounted for.

Now, as you mentioned, the blast did take place in a residential neighborhood about three miles from the U.S. Embassy. That building, as Mike was discussing, was closed. In addition, two consulates in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia were closed, and that is because the State Department shut them down on Friday, just one day before these blasts, because of the threat of terrorism.

In an advisory put out on Friday by the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, it explained that the embassy "continues to receive credible information that terrorist in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom." And despite that level of high alert, despite the attacks yesterday, a State Department spokeswoman this morning says the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, who has been in Iraq, is still planning to head to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a previously scheduled visit. That has not changed.

As for the president, Heidi, he is at Camp David this weekend. He was informed about the attacks yesterday. And no official reaction from the White House beyond that yet -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Dana Bash, thanks so much.

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 9, 2003 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in Saudi Arabia, a scene of another horrific terrorist attack. U.S. Embassy staffers in Riyadh right now are hunkered down in the diplomatic quarter. It's not far from the affluent neighborhood devastated last night by at least one car bomb.
Witnesses report hearing three explosions, as well as gunfire. Officials immediately pinned the blame on al Qaeda. Two deaths are confirmed so far, but the death toll will likely be much higher.

CNN terror expert Mike Brooks joins us now by phone with some insight into the situation -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN TERROR EXPERT: Good morning, Renay. Well, this is -- as you know, this is not the first time we have seen this kind of bombing. We go back to last May 12, when three suicide attacks against residential compounds, similar to what we saw, killed eight Americans and killed 35 people, and eight of those Americans.

Then we go back to 1995, the Saudi Arabia national guard bombing, where five Americans were killed there; 1996, the Khobar Towers bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 servicemen. You know, Renay, right after the bombing in May, the Saudi officials cracked down on what they thought could never happen in their countries, and they went after a number of terrorist cells. And, you know, they cracked down.

They have a number of arms caches. But again, we have seen this happen again. And we are most likely to see this happen in the future because there are radical fundamentalists, al-Qaeda groups in Saudi Arabia that don't want the United States in there, don't want Westerners there. And they look upon these compounds as places where Westerners and Americans can hunker down, if you will, and carry on their own lifestyle, that which is not suited towards the Saudi Arabians.

SAN MIGUEL: But Mike, there has to be some kind of consolation taken in the fact that there was a warning issued about this so that at least the American compound could make some arrangements for safety. Any significance in this, the fact that this might have come from signals intelligence or maybe even human intelligence, getting the fact that some of these terrorists were ready to go from planning to the operational part of that phase of their campaign?

BROOKS: Well, that's correct. We did hear that they were in an operational phase. And that's why the U.S. Embassy was closed on Saturday.

And this compound, Renay, is only about three miles away from the U.S. Embassy. So I think the intelligence working with the American government and the Saudi government there is getting a little better. You know, the Saudis -- people had said in the past the Saudis were not cooperating with the Americans like they had been. But I think we're looking at cooperation between the Saudi government and the U.S. government is better now, especially on the intelligence side than it has been in a number of years.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. CNN terror expert Mike Brooks, thanks for your insight. We appreciate it.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As we just have been talking about, the attack in Riyadh unfortunately was not a surprise to the Bush administration. The U.S. Embassy staff in Saudi Arabia was put on high alert just the day before, with the embassy and two consulates closed as a precaution.

CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash joining us now with the very latest from her post.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh has warned officials there, U.S. officials and their families, to stay in the diplomatic quarter, not to venture out into the city following the blast on Saturday, the multiple blasts on Saturday. And a State Department spokesman said one American citizen was wounded in that blast, another is unaccounted for. However, a U.S. official says that it appears all U.S. Embassy personnel are accounted for.

Now, as you mentioned, the blast did take place in a residential neighborhood about three miles from the U.S. Embassy. That building, as Mike was discussing, was closed. In addition, two consulates in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia were closed, and that is because the State Department shut them down on Friday, just one day before these blasts, because of the threat of terrorism.

In an advisory put out on Friday by the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, it explained that the embassy "continues to receive credible information that terrorist in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom." And despite that level of high alert, despite the attacks yesterday, a State Department spokeswoman this morning says the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, who has been in Iraq, is still planning to head to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a previously scheduled visit. That has not changed.

As for the president, Heidi, he is at Camp David this weekend. He was informed about the attacks yesterday. And no official reaction from the White House beyond that yet -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Dana Bash, thanks so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com