Qaeda reveals details of Saudi failed murder

Al-Qaeda militants said Tuesday that they had narrowly missed Deputy Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz in an attack last year as he flew into the Yemeni capital Sanaa on a visit.

In a video message posted on the Internet, the group said it had attempted to target the visiting Saudi delegation with a surface-to-air missile and had also planned to shell the welcoming ceremony at the airport.

Al-Qaeda threatened to launch fresh attacks on Saudi royal family members in the video, which was released in the occasion of commemorating a 2009 failed bombing that targeted the deputy interior minister.

"We can get you in your offices, we can get you in your bedrooms," said Qassem al-Rimi, a commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"I advise you to check before going to bed that there's no bomb planted and no suicide bomber in the room," Rimi added.

An al-Qaeda suicide bomber attacked Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism chief, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, on Aug. 27 last year as he was receiving members of the public.

"You attacked our houses and destroyed our homes, so we have attacked yours and destroyed your palaces," the al-Qaeda branch's assistant commander, Said al-Shihri, said in the video posting.

Saudi prominent writer Yehia al-Amir commented on the release of al-Qaeda video at this specific time saying that al-Qaeda militants were trying to make propaganda for themselves.

"It was the first operation to target a Saudi leader, individually, inside the kingdom. It is a kind of show-off on the part of al-Qaeda, to show their potentials and capabilities," he told Al Arabiya.


(Translated from Arabic by Abeer Tayel)