Kingdom’s resolute response to terror

There are no words to describe the depravity of those who would conspire to send a suicide bomber into a house of God to murder worshippers. There is, however, one big and powerful word to describe the reaction throughout the Kingdom to the wicked attack, a week ago today, on the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque in the village of Al-Qadeeh in Qatif, Eastern Province. That word is “resolution.”
There was anger and grief at the funerals of the 21 people who were murdered in the crime. Thousands of people came from all over the Kingdom to show their respects. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman said he was heartbroken over the Qatif massacre. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, visited the injured. He brought the king’s condolences to the bereaved and best wishes for a speedy recovery to the bedsides of the wounded being treated in Qatif hospital.
But there was more than the sympathy and wide-ranging support for the victims and their families. The whole country displayed its resolute determination to confront the evil menace of terrorism. Everyone echoed the king’s warning that the perpetrators, supporters and sympathizers of Friday’s savagery would be brought to justice. The security forces have moved with commendable speed. They believe they have arrested most of those who were behind the attack. If the other culprits are within reach they will be found and dealt with.
The Kingdom has long confronted the iniquity of terrorism. It has stood in the front-line against the men of violence. It has fought Al-Qaeda and its offshoots. And it has defeated them, in no small measure because of the vigilance and determination of ordinary Saudis working alongside the security forces. But this is a war that is not yet over.
The bloodletting at the Shiite mosque in the Eastern Province was a clear attempt to promote division in the country, along sectarian lines. The criminals who planned this atrocity wanted to drive a wedge into the unity of the Kingdom. The absurdity of their plan to divide and conquer is clear to everyone except them. They have not learned the lessons given to them in their past efforts to foment terror and despair in Saudi society. Terrorists have one initial advantage. If they can manage to avoid detection when setting up a terror cell — and many have tried and failed — they ought to have a wide choice of targets. However, it is doubtless significant that the terror chiefs chose a mosque. To all God-fearing men, attacking a house of God is unthinkable and abhorrent. But not to the suicide bomber, 20-year-old Saleh Al-Qashami, and the wicked men who trained, equipped and planned his brutal crime.
The Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque was a “soft target.” To assault innocent worshippers at prayer was an act of the greatest cowardice. It was also an easy crime. Such sinful assaults will not be easy from now on. The vigilant protection will now be extended to mosques.
The terrorists are faced with a resolute policy of zero tolerance. The king has said that such people have no place in Saudi Arabia. As has happened before, they will be hunted down. They will be confronted with an iron fist. All Saudis are united in their feelings of hatred and contempt for the evil of terrorism. And that unity is crucially important. There is no room for sectarianism in Saudi society. The terrible consequences of division promoted by terrorism are all too evident in Iraq.
The terrorists will not win in the Kingdom. It is not simply because of our strong government and vigilant security forces. Saudis and those who live in the country know what is at stake. The eyes and ears of the whole population are finely-tuned to the terror threat. Between 2000 and 2004 the Kingdom faced a vicious terror campaign. It was defeated in part because the terror cells were spotted and exposed by members of the public. But the threat never went away. The horrors last week in Al-Qadeeh are a timely reminder of this bitter reality. Now the men of violence will learn again that they are faced by a Kingdom that is resolute in its defiance of their wickedness and determined to see them defeated.