Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Saudi terror suspect admits to plotting strike
A Saudi engineer turned terror suspect has admitted to his involvement in a planned attack on the Chinese city of Shanghai.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 20:36 April 22, 2008
Riyadh: A Saudi engineer turned terror suspect has admitted to his involvement in a planned attack on the Chinese city of Shanghai.
The suspect was one among those arrested following the failed terror attack on Abqaiq oil processing plant in the Kingdom's Eastern province, the largest oil facility in the world.
This was disclosed by Abdul Lathief Al Gamdi, a member of the counselling committee, especially formed to advise Saudis detained on terror charges.
Addressing a recent cultural seminar held in Jeddah, Al Gamdi said: "The terror suspect, who worked as an engineer in the petroleum sector, told me that the aim of the planned Shanghai attack was to lure Americans into Saudi Arabia in order to kill them."
Deviant thoughts
Al Gamdi found no surprise in the deviant thoughts of terrorists who wanted to destroy their own country by killing Americans.
"They learned no lesson from the bitter experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
It is noteworthy that Saudi television carried a report in May last year, about the confessions of those held for the failed Abqaiq attack that they had planned the attack under the instructions of Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden. Their plan was to inflict damage on Saudi Arabia as severe as the September 11 attack on the US.
The February 24, 2006, attempt on Abqaiq, which left two security guards dead, was later claimed by Al Qaida.
The militants had wanted to storm into the facility and detonate two explosives-rigged cars but they exploded at the gate of the plant.
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