Trouble in Saudi Arabia: Al-Qaeda’s ‘Bum’ Assassination Attempt
A suicide bomber almost managed to kill a heavily guarded Saudi prince, passing through several security checkpoints with a bomb hidden in his rectum.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef of Saudi Arabia and his son, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, have many enemies. For decades, the powerful and unaccountable elder Prince Nayef has “overseen” the Saudi police force; Nayef once boasted that his law enforcement agency solves 100 percent of the kingdom’s annual crimes. Nayef regularly uses torture to elicit confessions from Saudi nationals as well as visitors from other countries, and for this human rights officials have repeatedly referred to Nayef as “the grim reaper of international law.” More recently, the elder Nayef was put in charge of a program to help terrorists living in and around Saudi Arabia to repent and change their ways. To administer the program, Nayef put his son, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in charge.
On August 28, one of those alleged to have repented — Abdullah Hassan Taleh al-Asiri, a 23-year-old Saudi national — almost succeeded in killing the younger prince by exploding himself during a meeting. The royal family had high hopes for a better outcome in its attempts to bolster support for its controversial program. It even went so far as to gamble flying al-Asiri into the kingdom from Yemen on a royal jet, despite the fact that al-Asiri is on a list of 85 terrorists wanted by the Saudi authorities. Scott Stewart of STRATFOR Global Intelligence explained what happened during the meeting:
After al-Asiri entered a small room to speak with Prince Mohammed, he activated a small, improvised explosive device (IED) he had been carrying inside his anal cavity. The resulting explosion ripped al-Asiri to shreds but only lightly injured the shocked prince — the target of al-Asiri’s unsuccessful assassination attempt.
Al-Qaeda was quick to take credit for the suicide bombing (according to SITE). After all, it was a major public relations coup. For starters, the royals had been tricked — promised surrender and instead given a Trojan horse. Saudi’s princes pride themselves on having impenetrable personal security systems. Instead, this recent incident revealed a major flaw in the royal armor, not to mention in the country’s airline security system. Al-Qaeda was quick to point out (through jihadist websites) that al-Asiri had passed through two major security checkpoints, in the Najran and Jeddah airports, before boarding a royal jet with explosives hidden up his bum.
A bomb hidden in his anal cavity? Why does this sound so terribly familiar?
Remember Fadhel al-Maliki? Read the story here.
