Christopher tours Saudi bomb wreckage
'A horrible sight'
June 26, 1996
Web posted at: 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 GMT)DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, surveying the devastation wrought by Tuesday's truck bomb in a military housing complex, pledged that it would not deter the United States from pursuing its mission in Saudi Arabia.
Nineteen American servicemen were killed in the terrorist attack.
U.S. officials said Tuesday's blast left 270 people injured, all American, but Saudi officials said 386 were injured, including 147 Saudis.
Christopher and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud, toured the explosion site in Al Khobar, a town near Dhahran.
"A horrible sight," Christopher murmured as he peered into a 30-foot-deep crater created by the blast. "What an outrage this was."
Mounds of rubble stood by the crater and the entire side of an eight-story apartment building had been blown off -- all the work of an estimated 5,000 pounds of explosives.
"It's a very bleak day for all of us," Christopher said. "It's almost incredible the loss of life wasn't larger."
Pentagon sources told CNN that two other smaller blasts rocked the Dhahran area "in the middle of the night" after the bombing of the military housing complex. The explosions caused limited damage and apparently were not aimed at U.S. citizens.
Clinton to make terrorism a priority at G-7
Tuesday's bombing was the worst against U.S. interests in the Middle East since 241 U.S. Marines and sailors were killed in Beirut in 1983, and the second attack in the last eight months targeted at Americans in Saudi Arabia.
Those who died were part of the United States' "Southern Watch" operation policing the no-fly zone in Iraq imposed after Baghdad's forces crushed a rebellion in southern Iraq in 1991 following their expulsion from Kuwait.
U.S. Air Force planes left Germany to pick up some of the nearly 400 wounded. The main U.S. military hospital in Europe, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center next to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was put on alert, a U.S. Air Force spokesman said.
U.S. President Bill Clinton vowed to make a fight against international terrorism his first priority at a summit of the world's richest industrialized nations beginning Thursday. (254K AIFF or WAV sound)
A team of FBI investigators has already been dispatched to Saudi Arabia to probe the bombing, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The FBI unit, which includes explosives and evidence experts, will assist Saudi authorities in charge of the investigation.
"Anyone who attacks one American attacks all Americans," Clinton said Wednesday before leaving for the G-7 summit. "We will not rest in our efforts to find whoever is responsible for this outrage, to pursue them and to punish them."
White House officials say Clinton does not plan to fly to Saudi Arabia, but will cut short his visit to France to attend two separate memorial services on Sunday for the U.S. Air Force personnel killed in the bombing.
Bomb's power not anticipated
The commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, Gen. Binford Peay, told reporters at his MacDill AFB headquarters in Tampa, Florida, that terrorist concerns had prompted authorities to take at least 20 steps to enhance security in the Al Khobar military complex.
Concrete barriers and observation towers were added and patrols were stepped up, he said.
But Peay admitted that military planners had failed to prepare for such an eventuality because they had never anticipated that terrorists would use such a powerful bomb.
"It was an enormous, enormous blast," he said. " When you look at the size of the crater ... this is an abnormally large response by a terrorist."
Multi-ton bombs may not be common, but they're not unprecedented. Some 4,000 pounds of explosives were used in the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said that but for the additional security measures, there would have been many more casualties.
"So even though this was a real tragedy, the tragedy would have been compounded very much more had these measure not already been taken," Perry said.
Perry, who will visit the bomb site Friday on his way to Bosnia, promised that the already tight security at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia will be further enhanced.
Strong U.S. presence in region
The U.S. military, leading an international force, used Saudi territory as a base for the Gulf War that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
American troops have remained in the kingdom since then to keep a close eye on Iraq. Their presence angers Muslim militants who oppose any Western presence in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines.
Officials at the Pentagon said the Air Force's 4404th Air Wing is based at the blast site. At least 2,000 Americans are stationed there to help enforce the U.N. no-fly zone over Iraq.
There are 40,000 Americans working in Saudi Arabia, including about 5,000 military personnel.
Clinton said there were 20,000 military personnel in the region.
Security tightened in region
In neighboring Bahrain, the Persian Gulf's finance and banking center and the administrative headquarters for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, the U.S. Embassy tightened security against possible attacks.
Saudi and U.S. officials said they had little idea who was behind the attack, but a previously unknown group claimed responsibility in a call to a London-based Arabic-language newspaper.
A man who telephoned al-Arab newspaper warned there would be more attacks against international military units unless U.S. troops left the country.
Americans told: Be vigilant
The State Department urged American citizens Wednesday to be vigilant about their personal security and surroundings when traveling in Saudi Arabia.
In addition, Americans were urged to reduce travel in the country, treat mail from unfamiliar sources with suspicion and to report any suspicious activities to the U.S. embassy or nearest consulate.
The embassy in Riyadh has temporarily suspended all routine consular services in order to be able to provide essential emergency services to U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia leads the world in oil production, is a close U.S. ally and is considered a moderating force among the more militant Arab countries.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Partial list of Americans killed in the blast - June 26, 1996
- Massive bomb rocks U.S. military complex - June 25, 1996
- President Clinton's remarks - June 25, 1996
- November attack in Saudi Arabia - November 13, 1995
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