Saudi minister reassures foreign workers
A Saudi minister today reassured foreign workers that terrorist activity in the country had not reached “crisis levels”.
Dr Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al Al-shaikh, Minister for Islamic Affairs, said the Saudi authorities had already wiped out half of the country’s terror cells, and methods were being taken to deal with the remainder.
He told reporters at a press conference in central London – “If you look back through the efforts of the Saudi government in tackling terrorism they have destroyed half of the terrorist force.
“Of course it is a problem but it has not reached a stage of crisis in Saudi Arabia.”
The minister said that recent al-Qaida attacks on westerners, including the murder of BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers and the wounding of BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner in Riyadh, had caused little disruption to the society or the economy.
The stock market has been performing well, as had other elements of the economy, according to Dr Al-shaikh.
“Our assessment of the situation is that it is controllable but because there are sleeping cells and because the terrorists live in a crowded area the Saudi forces do not want to hurt any of the local people.”
Dr Al-shaikh was in London to visit an Islamic centre in the east of the city. He said he had delivered a message at the mosque that Muslims should preach tolerance and avoid “hatred”.
