Riyadh Compound Bombings
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The Riyadh Compound Bombings took place on May 12, 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These deadly attacks, attributed to al-Qaeda, were the first of several “spectacular attacks” carried out by that group in 2003, and the deadliest attack on Americans that year.
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Early in May, the US State Department warned that terrorists were in the final stages of planning terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government also warned of this, and issued an alert for 19 men believed to be planning attacks.
Late on May 12, while much of Riyadh was asleep, three vehicles: a car, a pickup, and an SUV, drove through the streets of Riyadh. Their targets were three compounds: The Dorrat Al Jadawel, a compound owned by MBI International and Partners, the Al Hamra Oasis Village, and the Vinnell Corp. Compound, a compound owned by a Virginia-based defense contractor that was training the Saudi national guard. All contained large numbers of Americans and Westerners.
Around 11:15 PM, a car packed with explosives attempted to gain entry to the Jadawel compound. Guards opened fire, causing a small gunbattle with the suicide bombers. They then detonated their car, killing the three Saudi security guards.
At the Al Hamra Oasis Village and the Vinnell Corp. compound, the bombers shot the security guards outside the compound gates. They then opened the gates with the security controls and drove their trucks into the compounds. As they fired wildly, they screamed phrases like “Death to the Infidels!”. They then detonated both of their bombs, devastating the compounds.
26 people died, including 9 Americans. The nationalities of the other dead were seven Saudis, three Filipinos, two Jordanians, and one each from Australia, Britain, Ireland, Lebanon and Switzerland. In addition, 9 suicide bombers died, bringing the entire toll from the attacks to 35. More than 160 other people were injured, including more than two dozen Americans.
US President George W. Bush was informed of the attacks while on a national trip, and called them “ruthless murder.” Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah condemned the attacks as works of “monsters” and vowed to destroy the terrorist group that ordered them. After the attacks, Saudi Arabia began a harsh crackdown on terror, arresting more than 600 terrorist suspects and seizing bomb equipment, guns, bomb belts, and thousands of weapons meant for a terrorist campaign around the kingdom.
The US believes that al-Qaeda is behind the attacks, which did claim responsibility later. Attacks in Casablanca five days later led the US to raise its terror threat level from yellow to orange several days later.
There was one more large-scale attack in Saudi Arabia in 2003. On November 8, on the day the US State Department warned of further attacks in that country, a suicide truck bomb detonated outside the Muhaya Complex in Riyadh, killing 18 people and wounding 122. The attack killed all Arabs, many of them workers from Muslim countries such as Egypt and Lebanon. This attack turned some Muslim favor to al-Qaeda away, since they killed mostly Muslims.
Also see
References
- Shock and Fear in Riyadh (CBS News) (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/14/attack/main553938.shtml)