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| A combination picture of Saudi fugitive Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri as seen from a Yemeni police handbook of the most wanted terror suspects. Reuters/Yemeni Police |
The reason: Asiri was behind the suicide bombing in the summer of 2009 that nearly killed Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a senior Interior Ministry official who is credited with being the kingdom's chief proponent of aggressive counterterrorism measures. He is the son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef.
An Al Qaida suicide bomber carrying a bomb that had been inserted into his rectum detonated the device while waiting to see Mohammed on Aug. 27, 2009 in Jedda. Mohammed was only slightly injured, but it was the first assassination attempt against the Saudi royal family in decades and set off a major effort by the Saudi government against the group Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
U.S. officials said forensic analysis of the package bombs reveals that the chemical explosive in those defenses, PETN, was traced to the same explosive used in the failed attack on Mohammed.
"Getting Asiri, the bomb maker, is Saudi Arabia's top priority today," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and specialist on Al Qaida terrorism. "For the House of Saud this is personal."
A Saudi official in Riyadh commented only indirectly on the intelligence provided to the United States on the package bombs found in Britain and Dubai. The official said Saudi cooperation in countering terrorists is continuing.
The intelligence, however, was so accurate that it led authorities to the devices during the early stages of their flights to the United States, an indication that Al Qaida is penetrated by someone with intimate knowledge of its plans, and likely triggering a major hunt within AQAP for the source.
According to intelligence sources, Asiri is known as Abu-Salah and was born in Riyadh. He is 29 and joined Al Qaida in Yemen. Asiri is on a list of 85 wanted terrorists sought by Saudi authorities.
