Saudi Arabia has high expectations for newly appointed Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayif bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud, who led a crackdown on al-Qaida and survived a suicide bomb attack launched by the terrorists.
The new minister, who had served as assistant minister for security affairs since 1999, has effectively led the kingdom’s fight against al-Qaida after a wave of deadly attacks between 2003 and 2006. He survived a suicide attack in August 2009 when a bomber managed to infiltrate the prince’s security detail and detonated his implanted explosives. Prince Mohammed suffered only superficial injuries, but apart from the bomber, who was killed, no other serious casualties were reported. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack. It was the first high-profile al-Qaida attack on the government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified Interior Ministry in Riyadh in 2004.
Muhammad also led a program to rehabilitate al-Qaida members who either turned themselves in or were arrested through his center for “care and advice.”
Agence France-Presse