APS Diplomat Recorder articles from April 2004

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from April 2004

ARAB AFFAIRS - Apr 8 - Studied Silence & Fear As Iraq Violence Escalates.
April 10, 2004... Arab rulers maintain a studied silence on the rapidly escalating violence in Iraq. Official statements, including one from the Arab League, call for a greater UN role in restructuring Iraq and protecting its civilians. The violence - now...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Apr 9 - Paris: Iraq Is Fuelling Terror.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... France's top terrorism investigator Jean-Louis Bruguiere says: "Iraq has completely changed the situation in terms of the global threat (of terrorism), and is playing a key role in mobilising global sentiment. The situation in Iraq is playing a...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Apr 7 - Qaeda Promises More Attacks In Iraq; Claims Killing Hakim.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... A 33-minute audiotape appearing on a Website known as a clearinghouse for militant Islamic messages says senior Al Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi pledges to carry out more attacks on US troops in Iraq. (US officials have offered a $10m...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 5 - Sharon Sees Plan As Critical Blow To Palestinians.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... PM Sharon says his plan for unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians can defer their goal of statehood for years. Addressing rightwing critics of the plan within his own Likud party, he tells Yedioth Ahronoth the plan constitutes a...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 5 - June 30 Iraq Transfer Is Firm.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... Pres. Bush says he is committed to the June 30 deadline for transferring power in Iraq and will not be deterred by violence and an armed Shiite revolt against the US-led occupation. "The deadline remains firm", he tells reporters. On Apr 4 the...

AFGHANISTAN - Apr 6 - Karzai For Holy War On Opium Trade.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... Pres. Karzai urges Afghans to join a holy war against drugs, as opium poppy farmers protest for a second day against a government initiative to eradicate their crops. (Afghanistan is the world's biggest producer of opiates and supplies the...

AFGHANISTAN - Apr 8 - Dostum Troops Take City.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... Troops loyal to Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, a Karzai adviser, overrun Maimana, capital of the north-west province of Faryab. Interior Minister Ali Jalali telss a press conference in Kabul hundreds of Dostum gunmen marched into Maimana...

IRAN - Apr 6 - Tehran Promises To Limit Nuclear Plans.
April 10, 2004... The visiting head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, says he has received assurances that Tehran knows it has to step up co-operation with his agency. (ElBaradei's trip comes amid indications of continued nuclear cover-ups and signs that US allies...

IRAQ - Apr 5 - Sadr Faces Arrest Warrant.
April 10, 2004... US officials says they are holding a warrant, issued by an Iraqi judge sometime ago, for the arrest of the radical Shiite theologian Muqtada Al-Sadr, whose followers began a co-ordinated anti-coalition uprising in several Shiite cities on Apr...

IRAQ - Apr 5 - Death Toll Rises As Shiites Confront US Forces.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... The US forces' deadliest confrontation with Shiite groups in Sadr City since the March/April 2003 invasion kills seven US and at least 20 Shiite protesters and wounds 140 others. (The killings further erode support for the US-led coalition...

IRAQ - Apr 6 - Heavy Casualties For Marines.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... As a two-front insurgency continues to rage across the country, 12 Marines are killed in Ramadi by gunmen on the western side of the Sunni triangle. (The attack demonstrates a new brazenness on the part of Sunni insurgents. Pres. Bush has...

IRAQ - Apr 7 - Falluja Mosque Bombed.
April 10, 2004... US Marines fire a rocket and drop a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on a Falluja mosque compound killing 40 people, while a Shiite-inspired violence spreads to other key cities. But US Marines later said they did not locate any bodies inside the...

IRAQ - Apr 8 - Badran Resigns.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... Interim Interior Minister Nouri Badran resigns. He says he was criticized by Bremer who had complained that the defence minister and interior minister should not both be Shiites. Badran, a Shiite responsible for the country's 50,000 strong...

ISRAEL - Apr 4 - Sharon's Gaza Plan Draws Fire.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... PM Sharon clashes with hard-line ministers over his plan to withdraw from most of the Gaza Strip and some of the West Bank. Sharon plans to meet Bush in Washington on April 14, after the Jewish Passover holiday, to seek the president's...

KUWAIT - Apr 6 - Sabah Worried By Shiite Threat.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... PM Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah says challenges posed by Iraq's emboldened Shiite community to the US is escalating Shiite-Sunni tensions in his country and can become destructive. "If civil strife (in Iraq) erupts, it will burn us all and...

PALESTINE - Apr 4 - Arafat Not Worried By Israeli Threats To Kill Him.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2004... Pres. Arafat brushes off Israeli threats to kill him, as US and other world leaders criticise Israel's PM Sharon for suggesting an act that could plunge the region deeper into chaos. Sharon said in interviews published a day earlier that two of...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Apr 1 - Summit Efforts Resume.
April 12, 2004... Egyptian Pres. Mubarak meets with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in the Sinai resort of Sharm El Shaikh in efforts to convene the Arab summit, which was to be held in Tunis on Mar 29 but was postponed indefinitely on Mar 27 by Tunisian Pres. Ben...

ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Mar 31 - Iran Urged To Shelve N-Plant.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Britain, France and Germany warn Iran not to start up a new nuclear plant in Isfahan, saying it undermines confidence in a 2003 commitment it made to suspend its uranium enrichment programme. (This follows a statement by the head of IAEO,...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Mar. 28 - Intelligence On Iraq Hit.
April 12, 2004... A parliamentary subcommittee on Israel's intelligence criticises the country's intelligence services, saying the agencies over-estimated Iraq's weapons programmes before last year's war because they were unable to obtain "hard facts". It points...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 1 - Sharon Threatens To Target Arafat.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Israel Radio reports PM Sharon as having threatened Pres. Arafat and said: "Whoever is responsible for the murder of Jews, let him not think he has an insurance policy", and he also mentioned Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a possible...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 2 - Violence At Jerusalem Holy Site.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Israeli riot police clash with thousands of Palestinians, including stone-throwers, at the Jerusalem holy site in the largest eruption of violence since the Palestinian uprising began there on Sept.28, 2000, when Sharon paid a defiant visit...

ARAB-OPEC AFFAIRS - Mar 31 - Vienna Meet Cuts Output Ceiling To 23.5M B/D.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... OPEC's one-day ministerial conference decides to implement its Feb. 10 agreement, reached in Algiers where the oil ministers then met, to cut the official oil production ceiling by 1m b/d to 23.5m b/d from Apr 1. (However, futures prices of WTI...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 29 - Iraqi Deaths Admitted.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The US Army admits responsibility for what it calls an accidental Mar 18 killing of two Iraqi journalists working for Al Arabiya satellite news channel. The two - a cameraman, Ali Abdel Aziz, 35, and a reporter, Ali Al-Khatib, 32 - were working...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Mar 30 - Iraq WMD Inspector Tells Of 'Credible' Leads.
April 12, 2004... The new US chief weapons inspector for Iraq, Charles Duelfer, delivers a public version of testimony he made behind closed doors to two Senate committees and says a lack of co-operation from ousted Iraqi officials is thwarting American efforts...

AFGHANISTAN - Mar 28 - Afghan Elections In September.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Owing to the slow pace of registration of voters as well as concerns over internal security, Pres. Karzai says the presidential and parliamentary elections are postponed until September. (Under the agreement reached at Bonn in 2001 which led to...

AFGHANISTAN - Mar 31 - Donors Pledge $4.4 Bn.
April 12, 2004... Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani announces at the end of an international meeting in Berlin donors have pledged to give Kabul $4.4 bn (3.6bn, [pounds sterling]2.4bn) this year and a total of $8.2 bn over the next three years. He says the...

AFGHANISTAN - Apr 1 - Militants Linked To Drugs Trade.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The commander of US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Barno, tells reporters in Berlin there are growing signs of links between Muslim terrorist groups and the drugs trade in Afghanistan. He says the number of incidents where...

IRAQ - Mar 28 - Foreign Civilians Killed.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... A widening campaign with insurgents targeting Western contractors kills a British and a Canadian civilian in a drive-by shooting in Mosul. CPC officials later said the two men were guards working for the London-based company, Olive Security,...

IRAQ - Mar. 29 - Sadr & Sistani Shiites Protest To Scupper Constitution, Oust US-Led Forces.
April 12, 2004... Protests erupt in many Shiite areas as their religious leader, the 31-year-old firebrand Muqtada Sadr, seeks to increase pressure on the US-led coalition and scupper the temporary constitution. Shiite stone-throwers clash with troops in the...

IRAQ - Mar 31 - Falluja Insurgents Kill & Mutilate 4 US Civilians.
April 12, 2004... Insurgents in the mainly-Sunni town of Falluja kill and mutilate four US civilians working as security guards. They burn and behead their bodies and crucify their headless remains - there later appearing hung from a footbridge over the...

IRAQ - Mar 31 - Sadr Army Demolish Village Of Dancers & Prostitutes.
April 12, 2004... Three weeks ago, according to press reports, Sadr's Jaysh Al Mahdi wiped out a village in central Iraq which refused to adhere to its puritanical creed, killing some inhabitants and forcing the rest to flee. Hundreds of Jaysh militiamen...

PALESTINE - Mar 31 - Qurei Upbeat On Gaza Pullout.
April 12, 2004... PM Qurei tells parliament Israel's plan for unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip can provide an opportunity to revive the stalled peace process. (His remarks coincide with a surge of diplomatic activity by the US and its Quartet partners...

RUSSIA - Mar 29 - Khodorkovsky Hits Moscow's Business Elite.
April 12, 2004... Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oil tycoon languishing in jail since last October facing $1 bn in fraud and tax evasion charges, turns on his former allies among the business elite and praises Pres. Putin. In what appears to be an attempt to...

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 3 - Alien Workers' Flow Continues.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Despite Riyadh's Saudiisation efforts, foreign workers keep pouring into the kingdom. Job-seekers keep coming on free visas, although such visas have been declared illegal. Arrivals from South and South-East Asia, professionals and unskilled...

TURKEY - Mar 28 - AK Wins Local Polls.
April 12, 2004... The ruling Justice and Development (AK) party wins a commanding victory in elections for municipal and local authorities and city mayors across the country, securing a fresh mandate for the government. Early results show the AK party secured...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Apr 13 - May Summit In Tunis; Sending Force To Iraq Under UN Control.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Arab League Sec-Gen Amr Moussa, arriving in Bahrain for a two-day visit, says: "We are planning to have the summit in May and in Tunis". He says the 22-state league will not send a regional force to help stabilisation efforts in Iraq at the...

ARAB-ISLAMIC AFFAIRS - Apr 15 - EU Rejects Bin Laden Offer.(European Union )(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... European governments swiftly reject a truce offer by Al Qaeda Leader Bin Laden in exchange for a withdrawal of their troops from Iraq and other Muslim countries. The offer was made in a taped statement broadcast by Arab TV channels. The CIA...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 12 - Gaza Ambush.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Israeli soldiers shoots and kill 2 Palestinian gunmen as they attempt to infiltrate a combined Jewish settlement and army base in the Gaza Strip, in advance of PM Sharon's departure for an Apr 14 meeting with Pres. Bush in Washington. Spotting...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 17 - Rantissi Killed.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Two missiles from an Israeli Apache helicopter hit a car carrying Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantissi and bodyguards. Rantissi later dies in hospital. Two of his bodyguards were killed as well. The attack occurs in about a block from...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 12 - Bush Receives Mubarak At Crowford.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Pres. Bush meets with visiting Egyptian Pres. Mubarak at his Texas ranch of Crowford. Talks centre on the Palestinian-Israeli situation, Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and Washington's Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI) for...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 12 - Abizaid For More Troops.
April 17, 2004... CentCom Commander Gen. John Abizaid asks the Pentagon for two more combat brigades in response to the widespread rebellion in Iraq. (The request for new troops highlights how the week-long revolt is forcing the US to rethink its Iraq security...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 13 - Bush Defends Iraq Policy.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Speaking at a White House press conference attended by senior members of his administration (for the first time since he made the case for war against Saddam Hussein), Pres. Bush sticks to the June 30 timetable for restoring Iraqi sovereignty,...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 14 - Bush Endorses Sharon Plan; Against Palestinians' Right Of Return.
April 17, 2004... At a joint White House press conference after talks with visiting Israeli PM Sharon, Bush endorses Israel's plans to retain territory it captured from the Arabs in the June 1967 war, saying it will be unrealistic to expect a full Israeli...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 14 - The Bush-Sharon Friendship.
April 17, 2004... (Sharon was Bush's guide to Israel in 1998 when the latter was Texas governor. "I had the honour of travelling the West Bank with Ariel Sharon by helicopter", Bush told an audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition in 1999. "You can imagine...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 15 - Washington Considers Pullout From Saudi.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... The US Embassy in Riyadh says the State Department is considering a withdrawal of non-essential US diplomats and family members from Saudi Arabia because of security concerns. The US government "continues to receive credible indications of...

IRAN - Apr 14 - Tehran Drops Bid To Help US In Iraq.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... FM Kharrazi tells reporters of an attempt to work with the US on Iraq: "Previously, we had dialogue about Iraq, currently it has stopped because we felt we were going nowhere. The Americans give promises, but don't keep their promises....

IRAN - Apr 17 - Tehran Will Not Melt Like Iraq.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Marking the annual Army Day, Pres. Khatami says: "Saddam's regime was toppled by the coalition forces within a short time and de facto melted like snow by the summer sun. But Iran is acknowledged even by its enemies as the only stable spot in...

IRAQ - Apr 11 - Police Refuses To Fight.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Police in Baghdad's Yarmouk station take off their uniforms refusing to wage a counter-terrorism war against opponents of US rule. An unnamed police is quoted by the local press as saying: "How can I arrest an Iraqi whose brother has been...

IRAQ - Apr 14 - 100 Insurgents Killed.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... In one of the heaviest battles since the March/ April 2003 invasion, US forces kill more than 100 insurgents in close quarter combat in the town of Karmah, 10 km north-east of Falluja. The search-and-destroy type mission began in the morning of...

IRAQ - Apr 15 - Iran Diplomat Killed.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Gunmen assassinates an Iranian diplomat Khalil Naimi while he drove near his embassy in Tehran. This coincides with the presence in Iraq of Hossein Sadeghi, head of the Persian Gulf Affairs section at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, who is trying...

KUWAIT - Apr 14 - GCC Alliance Can Deter Invasion For A While.
April 17, 2004... The Chairman of the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies Dr Sami Al Faraj says the country's territorial integrity must be maintained since the stability of the Gulf region rests on Kuwait, which serves as a buffer zone between Iraq, Iran and...

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 10 - Wahhabi Militant Threatens Regime & Americans.
April 17, 2004... In a video carried on an Islamist website called Dirasat, a masked man identified as Abdel Aziz Al Muqrin, a Saudi Wahhabi militant wanted by government security forces, urges the killing of Americans and threatens all Arab regimes co-operating...

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 16 - Wahhabi Commander In Chechnya Killed.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... The Saudi commander of Arab Wahhabi fighters in Chechnya, Abdel Aziz Al-Ghamdi, also known as Abul Walid, is killed in the back as he was preparing to begin Friday prayers. (Ghamdi is said by the Kremlin to be among those behind the bombing of...

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 16 - American Dependents Evacuate.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2004... Some of the non-essential US diplomatic staff and dependents of US nationals are beginning to leave the kingdom, following a warning of threats made by the State Department (see Arab-US Relations). On Apr 12 security forces found arms and...

TURKEY - Apr 14 - Sezer Stresses Kemalism; Says Ankara Unconcerned By GMEI.
April 17, 2004... Addressing a conference at the War Academies in Istanbul, Pres. Ahmet Necdet Sezer stresses the importance of the country's Kemalist ideology and the principle of secularism as a fundamental element of this society. On Washington's Greater...

ARAB-EUROPEAN AFFAIRS - Apr 18 - Spain To Quit Iraq.
April 24, 2004... In his first act as new PM, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero orders the 1,432-strong Spanish contingent (less than 1% of the US-led forces) to pull out of Iraq, blowing US efforts to keep a united allied front facing the increasingly violent...

ARAB-EUROPEAN AFFAIRS - Apr 21 - France Chastises Iran.
April 24, 2004... At the Elysee Palace meeting with FM Kharazzi of Iran, Pres. Chirac criticizes Tehran for failing to comply fully with international inspections of its nuclear sites, and suggests that Iran has violated the spirit of an agreement with France,...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 18 - Israelis Stop Rockets.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... In an attempt to halt repeated Palestinian rocket fire, Israeli soldiers kill 5 Palestinians. The clash also hurt 30 Palestinians and 5 Israeli soldiers in Palestine town of Beit Lahia. Israeli tanks along with an armored bulldozer entered the...

ARABS-ISRAEL - Apr 23 - Sharon Says Arafat May Be Targeted.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... In an interview with Israel TV's Channel Two, PM Sharon says that he is no longer compelled by a promise to Pres. Bush not to harm the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Sharon says he told Bush about his change of position in an Apr 14 meeting...

ARAB-UN - Apr 23 - UN Urged To Monitor Israel's Pullout From Gaza.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... UN Special Co-Ordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, calls on the UN Security Council for international supervision over Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza, possibly along the lines of the pull-back from south Lebanon. He says...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 19 - Coalition In Deal To Ease Falluja Tensions.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... The US-led coalition in Iraq announces an agreement to defuse tension in the town of Falluja, the scene of a two-week confrontation which has seen the bloodiest fighting since the end of the US invasion a year ago. The accord allows for the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 20 - More Troops For Iraq Backup.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... US most senior uniformed commander Gen Richard Myers tells a congressional hearing that they are reviewing what active-duty forces can be quickly sent to Iraq in the coming weeks, as American diplomats scrambled to shore up the US-led...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 20 - Powell Calms Arab Anger.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... US Secretary Of State Colin Powell, seek to calm tempers in the Arab world after Pres. Bush's endorsement of the Israeli plan to retain contentious Jewish settlements in the West Bank. He says: "The president is absolutely committed to the...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 23 - US Drops Business Sanctions Against Libya.
April 24, 2004... The US drops virtually all restrictions on trade and investment, and removes Tripoli from the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which authorises penalties against foreign companies investing in Libya's oil sector, as a reward to Muammer Gadaffi for...

ARAB-US RELATIONS - Apr 23 - Bush Cautions Sharon.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... US Pres. Bush cautions Israeli PM Ariel Sharon against harming Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the Israeli leader said he is no longer bound by a promise to spare Arafat from attack. Bush, in a meeting with Sharon last week, had...

AFGHANISTAN - Apr 20 - Cabinet Set To Be Streamlined.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... Pres. Hamid Karzai says the cabinet will be streamlined and ministries shaken up to install qualified professionals rather than political appointees to senior posts. International donors recently pledged a further $8.2bn (6.8bn, [pounds...

IRAQ - Apr 18 - Kurd To Head Iraq Reformed Armed Forces.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... Iraq's newly reconstituted Ministry of Defence says that a Kurdish former resistance fighter, Babekr Al Zibari, will head Iraq's reformed armed forces. The choice comes as the US-led coalition in Iraq is seeking ways to bolster the loyalty of...

IRAQ - Apr 20 - Mortar Fire Kill 22.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... A deadly mortar barrage on a US-run prison in Baghdad kill 22 prisoners and wound more than 90. All of the casualties at the Abu Ghraib jail just west of Baghdad were among the 4,400 people detained there on security grounds. Insurgents also...

IRAQ - Apr 21 - Carnage In Basra.
April 24, 2004... A bomb strike on 3 police stations in Basra kills 70, among them up to 20 children. Four British soldiers are also injured, 2 of them seriously, when another bomb hits the Iraqi police academy at Zubair, a nearby town. The children died when 2...

IRAQ - Apr 23 - Sunni Leader Warns US To Hold Off In Falluja.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... A Sunni Muslim leader Shaikh Ahmad Abdul Ghafur Samarrai, warn the US-led coalition that it will face an uprising throughout Iraq if its forces attacked Falluja, which has been besieged by US Marines since April 5. Giving his warning at Friday...

ISRAEL - Apr 19 - Sharon Plan Gets Boost.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... Israel's FM Silvan Shalom joins other key ministers in supporting a plan for the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, citing US support for the plan as the reason for his change of stance. The ministerial support significantly increases...

ISRAEL - Apr 19 - Israel Should Destroy Reactor.
April 24, 2004... The Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who was imprisoned for 18 years for revealing Israel's nuclear capability, tells Israeli security officials that Israel's nuclear reactor should be destroyed. Vanunu, who is due to be released...

ISRAEL - Apr 22 - Sharon Plan To Proceed Despite Vote.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... Senior Israeli officials say PM Ariel Sharon will push ahead with a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip even if members of his divided Likud Party reject the proposal in a coming vote. In introducing the idea of a Likud referendum last month,...

RUSSIA - Apr 22 - Police Search Yukos.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... Russian tax authorities raid the offices of the oil giant Yukos adding to recent pressure on the Russian stock market. Investors and analysts said the raid on Yukos headquarters in downtown Moscow is just the latest in a long string of visits...

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 19 - Saudis Seize Vehicles Packed With Explosives.(Brief Article)
April 24, 2004... The authorities seize 2 sport utility vehicles packed with explosives, hidden under fruit and vegetables, on a highway outside Riyadh. It is the third straight day that the Saudis have announced the discovery of vehicles loaded with explosives....

SAUDI ARABIA - Apr 21 - Terror Blasts Hit At Heart Of Saudi Regime.
April 24, 2004... Suspected Saudi extremists aim at the regime in Riyadh when they explode 2 car bombs outside a security building in Riyadh. The attacks seemed to underline the shift in strategy of militant groups in the kingdom who have until now focused their...