The Kingdom will soon root out the deviant group, declared Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, in reference to the ongoing campaign against Al-Qaeda sympathizers blamed for a series of bombings and shootouts across the country over the past 16 months. "Islamic history like world history is full of such deviant groups who appear abruptly triggering violence but disappear quickly. This group will also be crushed as they are deviants who will not last long," Prince Sultan told the Lebanese magazine Al-Sayyad. He said terrorism and violence were not a new phenomena. "We have seen violence in Europe and the United States. This reminds us that they do not occur because of Islamic reasons," he pointed out.
| Except that this batch of terrorism is occurring for Islamic reasons... |
He highlighted the government's efforts to contain terrorism and flush out terrorists. Prince Sultan said terrorism and violence would not receive any acceptability at Islamic and social levels, adding that Saudis would not accept destruction of the country's property and weakening of its relations with other countries or damaging the national economy. "The Kingdom's anti-terrorist operations cannot be called a war, because this deviant group does not deserve such a big word. Iman or faith in God is our main weapon to confront these renegades because those who believe in the right doctrine will have strong faith," he added. He said the anti-terror campaign was not targeting Islam. |