Monday 9 September 2002

Embassy blamed for bombings

Saudis accuse British staff of destabilisation campaign: Oh goody now maybe we'll be put on the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism and the yanks will come and bomb the House of Commons!

Obey! British embassy staff in Riyadh have been accused by the Saudi Arabian authorities of coordinating a campaign of anti-western terrorist bombings in the kingdom, the Guardian has learned.
The accusation that the British embassy in Riyadh coordinated the bombings to destabilise the Saudi regime is the latest and most bizarre piece of information to escape the pall of secrecy behind which the Saudis have been conducting legal proceedings against seven westerners who say they have been tortured into making false confessions.

Two Britons have been killed and several other westerners maimed or injured since November 2000 in a bombing campaign widely believed to be the work of anti-western extremists.

The allegation against the British mission in Riyadh, confirmed yesterday by the Foreign Office, was at the heart of the prosecution case against five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian detained in the kingdom.

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