June 25, 1996 (ENN) Preliminary reports are being received of a terrorist attack on a U.S. Air Force base near Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia. Casualties are reported in excess of 100 and an unknown number of deaths may have occurred. Details are sketchy at this time, and Air Force spokespersons are not imnmediately available for comment.
An unconfirmed report suggests that an "extremely large" truck bomb may have exploded near a housing area of the King Abdul Aziz Airbase. Medics and fire units are on-scene and a mass casualty incident has been declared. As previously reported by ENN, U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia have been targeted by Islamic extremists, and several threats have been issued against allied units in Saudi Arabia.
ENN is following this developing story and will provide details and analysis as more information becomes available.
Chicago, IL, June 26, 1996 (ENN)-- A deadly terrorist attack has taken the lives of at least 23 Americans, and injured another 300, at a U.S. Air Force housing complex on the King Abdul Aziz Airbase near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. According to witnesses, an Air force security guard noticed a 5,000 gallon diesel truck being backed up next to a dormitory that housed U.S. personnel. Both Saudi and American security forces were notified of the unusual incident and responded to the report. As the security patrols approached the parked truck, they saw two unidentified individuals fleeing the scene in a small white car.
Reportedly, security forces then immediately began to order an evacuation of nearby buildings. Within two or three minutes, a massive explosion engulfed the nearest building and created a 10 meter (35 feet) deep crater that measured more than 30 meters (85 feet) in width. According to military authorities, damage was done to buildings as far as 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the blast.
Explosive ordinance disposal personnel estimated that the bomb had the force of as much as 4,000 lbs. of TNT and said that it appeared that the device was made of a "high order explosive material." It was not immediately determined if the truck contained any diesel or was completely filled with explosives. An unnamed Saudi defense official, at the scene, was quoted as saying, "It does appear that this was a terrorist act directed at the foreign presence in the Kingdom."
Quickly, both Air Force and civilian ambulances and fire equipment sped to the scene. At least part of one building, and maybe another nearby, were reported to have collapsed due to the detonation. Hundreds of people were reported injured by flying glass and debris produced by the blast. Dead and dying women and children, relatives of allied airmen stationed at the base, were seen among the victims. An outraged and unidentified Air Force medic described the scene as "just like the Beirut Marine Barracks...all over again...only this time, it was wives and kids killed by those bastards."
Rescue efforts in Dhahran have reportedly continued into the night, with soldiers and airmen digging through the shattered buildings and piles of debris with their bare hands, hoping to find some sign of life amongst the devastation. More than 100 Americans were reported to be in either serious or critical condition, having suffered the effects of concussion injuries, lacerations, fractures, and burns from the force of the truck bomb eruption. Another 150 were treated for minor wounds and released, according to military sources.
Speculation has already begun about the possible perpetrators of the atrocity in Dhahran. U.S. Forces in Saudi Arabia have been on an increased state of alert since May 16, when the U.S. embassy in Riyadh received unspecified threats against Americans. The warnings in May were proceeded by a November 13, 1995 car bombing of an American training compound in Riyadh that killed seven people and wounded 37 others.
Threat levels had reportedly escalated again after the recent execution of four men convicted of the Nov. 13th bombing. The four men, beheaded by Saudi authorities, claimed in their confessions to the bombing that they had been motivated by influences from "outside the Kingdom," including dissident Mohammad al-Masari. Masari is allegedly the leader of a group that wants to establish a Islamic theocracy in Saudi Arabia and depose the Saudi royal family. Masari has denied that he had any influence over the four. Masari and his organization undoubtedly remain suspects in the current bombing.
U.S. Ambassador Raymond Mabus said that American embassy had received faxes in April, May, and June from Islamic fundamentalists, calling for the thousands of American and British military personnel to leave the kingdom before July. A group, called the "Islamic Movement for Change," who oppose all Western troops in the kingdom, has vowed in its public statements to "exert all available means to evict these foreign forces." The "movement" was one of three groups that claimed responsibility for the Nov.13th Riyadh bombing.
ERRI analysts say that several other small splinter groups of "Saudi nationalists", "Moslem extremists", or a specially put together team of Iranian-backed "sappers" could also be responsible for the disaster in Dhahran. Recent patterns of terrorism suggest that a number of recent bombings in the Mid and Far East have been the work of teams of "specialists", brought together for a specific act and then disbanded. This "Modis Operandi" makes it extremely difficult to track the attack to its actual source.
But, according to ERRI experts, it is entirely too early to establish a clear motive or the identities of the terrorists in Dhahran. Much investigative work must be carried out, clues must be uncovered, and many leads followed. President Clinton, in a statement issued shortly after the disaster was announced, said that he was sending a special team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist the Saudi Arabian government in its search for the bombers.
Clinton, visibly shaken and outraged by the "Disaster in Dhahran," said, "The cowards who committed this murderous act must not go unpunished." In order to do that, however, Saudi and American officials are now faced with the difficult task of identifying and locating the murderers who struck so violently in Saudi Arabia.
(c) Emergencynet NEWS Service, 1996
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