King Fahd pledged Sunday that Saudi Arabia would defeat the terror that has rocked it over the past year and said the conservative kingdom would tailor reforms to its own needs.
In a major annual policy address to the Shura (Consultative) Council, he recalled a promise of municipal elections, but did not set a date for the first ever polls in the country - in principle due to take place later this year.
"We will not allow a subversive group driven by deviant thinking to undermine this country's security or destabilise it," Fahd said at the opening of the fourth year of the third legislative term of the 120-member council in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"The deep cohesion between the leadership and the people, the vigilance of security forces and the valiant efforts of everyone to preserve this country's security will prevent them from achieving their goals," he said, deploring "the terrorist acts which terrorised people and claimed lives."