Extremists will be 'annihilated': Saudi Arabia

01 Aug, 2004

Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz warned Saturday that suspected extremists who had failed to surrender under a royal amnesty would be "annihilated".
"We had given the deviant group a month in the name of the king and the people," the official SPA news agency quoted him as telling local guests.
"Unfortunately, (just a few) turned themselves in, while others remained (at large) and, God willing, will be annihilated," he said.
Saudi Arabia is fighting a fierce battle against a wave of terrorism, blamed on sympathisers of the al Qaeda network, that has claimed some 90 lives and wounded hundreds since May 2003.
Only six militants responded to a one-month amnesty offered by King Fahd to al Qaeda-linked extremists on June 23 before it ran out.
Just one of those figured on the kingdom's 26-strong most-wanted list issued in December. Twelve militants on the list remain at large, while the others have either been killed in clashes with security forces or surrendered.

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