A Saudi Arabian
court has sentenced three men to death and jailed two others for up to
17 years for their part in a series of militant attacks including the
deadly bombing of a foreign housing compound in 2003, state news agency
SPA reported.
SPA said that, among
other charges, a man identified by the court as "suspect number one" was
convicted of involvement in the bombing of the al-Muhaya compound,
where expatriates lived, in the capital Riyadh, one of a series of al
Qaeda attacks in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia
faced a militant insurgency from 2003 to 2006 in which al Qaeda
targeted residential compounds for foreign workers and Saudi government
facilities, killing dozens of people.
The
kingdom responded by arresting thousands of suspected militants and
launching a media campaign to discredit their ideology with the backing
of influential clerics and tribal leaders.
In
the 2003 attack, suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers posing as Saudi
police blew up their explosives-laden car in a Riyadh compound housing
mostly Arab foreigners, killing 11 people and wounding 122, including 36
children.
The charges in
the case also included belonging to an al Qaeda-linked cell, firing on
policemen, loading cars with explosives to use in "terrorist" attacks
and possessing weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and SAM-7
rockets, SPA reported late on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/us-saudi-court-qaeda-idUSBREA260YQ20140307
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