Says Reuters: “A senior al Qaeda militant orchestrated the bombing of a residential compound in Saudi Arabia earlier this month by telephone from Iran, a Saudi newspaper says.
“Okaz newspaper, quoting informed sources on Sunday, said the militant network’s security chief Saif al-Adel gave orders for the attack in the capital Riyadh by satellite phone. . . . ‘The sources said that the terrorist Saif al-Adel is in Iran,’ it added.”
Saif isn’t alone: “The newspaper said Saif al-Adel fled to Iran with 500 al Qaeda members during the intensive U.S. bombing of Afghanistan in late 2001. It said they were detained by Iranian troops.” Not all that efficiently, it seems.
Meanwhile, an Iranian official says this about Al-Qaeda’s Iranian presence: “These are rumours…We are serious about confronting al Qaeda. We have always been and will continue to be so.” He sounds a bit like Saddam’s Information Minister.