2003 жылғы Эр-Риядтағы теракттар

2003 suicide bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by al Qaeda

Two major bombings took place in residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 12 May 2003, 39 people were killed, and over 160 wounded when bombs went off at three compounds in Riyadh—Dorrat Al Jadawel, Al Hamra Oasis Village, and the Vinnell Corporation Compound.

A smaller campaign of insurgency in Saudi Arabia had begun in November 2000 when car bombings were carried out targeting and killing individual expatriates in Riyadh and other cities. As early as February 2003, the US State Department issued travel warnings that Westerners could be targeted by terrorists. The warnings followed an explosion at a private residence where weapons, explosives, cash, and false documents were subsequently discovered. In early May 2003, 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 members of Al Qaeda planning attacks.

Late on 12 May, several vehicles manned by heavily armed assault teams arrived at three Riyadh compounds: The Dorrat Al Jadawel, a compound owned by the London based MBI International and Partners subsidiary Jadawel International, the Al Hamra Oasis Village, and the Vinnell Corporation Compound, occupied by a Virginia based defense contractor that was training the Saudi National Guard. All contained large numbers of Americans, Westerners, and non Saudi Arabs. Around 11:15 pm, multiple gunmen infiltrated the Al Hamra Oasis Village, a site inhabited mainly by Westerners. They killed the guards at the gate and proceeded to open fire at residents, killing Westerners, non Saudi Arabs, and Saudis and the assailants then detonated a car bomb. The next attack was at the Jadawel compound, though the assailants failed to gain access to the compound due to the prominent level of security. There was a shootout between security personnel and terrorists on approach to the BACK gate. The terrorists then detonated a two ton truck bomb outside the area killing themselves, two security guards and injuring many others.

In the immediate aftermath of the May bombing, a large number of Western expatriates left Saudi Arabia. Airlines reported a "flood of bookings for flights from Saudi Arabia to Britain and America". There were also bomb scares and an evacuation of one compound near those attacked and at the landmark Faisaliya Tower. and by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah as the work of "monsters." Abdullah vowed to destroy the terrorist group that ordered them, and the Saudi government began a harsh crackdown on the insurgency, arresting more than 600 terrorist suspects and seizing bomb making materials, bomb belts, and thousands of weapons. On 7 June 2003, an official Saudi statement identified twelve men as the perpetrators of this attack. According to that statement, the identification was based on DNA found at the scene. The names were Al Qaeda member Khaled Muhammad bin Muslim Al Arawi Al Juhani, Muhammed Othman Abdullah Al Walidi Al Shehri, Hani Saeed Ahmad Al Abdul Karim Al Ghamdi, Jubran Ali Ahmad Hakami Khabrani, Khaled bin Ibrahim Mahmoud, Mehmas bin Muhammed Mehmas Al Hawashleh Al Dosari, Muhammed bin Shadhaf Ali Al Mahzoum Al Shehri, Hazem Muhammed Saeed Kashmiri, Majed Abdullah Sa'ad bin Okail, Bandar bin Abdul Rahman Menawer Al Rahimi Al Mutairi, Abdul Karim Muhammed Jubran Yazji, and Abdullah Farres bin Jufain Al Rahimi Al Mutairi. Abdul Rahman Jabarah was killed in a gunfight with Saudi security forces, as was Zubayr Al Rimi. Both men were believed to have had involvement in the attack. Saif al Adel and Saad bin Laden were implicated in the attacks. According to Seth G. Jones, the bombings were planned by al Qaeda in Iran, with apparent Iranian complicity. In May 2003, then State Department official Ryan Crocker provided information on the upcoming attack to Iranian officials, who apparently took no action. However, according to an interrogation of former al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, al Adel and Saad were being held prisoner in Iran when the attacks took place. Saad was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in 2009.