US says militants slip into Iraq via Saudi Arabia

12.00pm

WASHINGTON - Some of the people attacking United States forces in Iraq are slipping across the border from Saudi Arabia, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in a television interview today.

US soldiers have faced daily guerrilla ambushes since the end of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein in April, but those attacks were overshadowed by Tuesday's suspected suicide bombing of the UN headquarters that killed 24 people.

US officials have long suspected some militants have come through Iran and Syria and has warned both against interference in Iraq but have not previously singled out Saudi Arabia, a key US ally because of its vast oil reserves.

However, Riyadh's co-operation on fighting terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the United States has left some US officials disappointed.

"The borders are quite porous, as you'd imagine, and the fact that we've captured a certain number of foreign fighters in Baghdad and around Iraq indicates that the ways that these people are getting into the country is from Iran and from Syria and from Saudi Arabia," Armitage said in an interview with Arabic-language television channel Al-Jazeera.

"I'm not in any position to assert that the governments of Iran or Syria or Saudi Arabia are in any way responsible. But, as a minimum, I can state that they're not -- these fighters -- are not being stopped at the borders, and this is something that causes us a great deal of concern," he added according to a transcript of the interview provided by Al-Jazeera.

Since US President George W. Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1, most attacks in Iraq have been sporadic in nature and directed against American soldiers. In recent weeks, the assaults have become more sophisticated, utilising vehicle bombs and causing greater carnage.

Armitage said US teams have been talking with Saudi officials and Saudi Arabia has made a greater effort to combat militants in general since car bombs exploded in three residential compounds chiefly for Westerners in Riyadh on May 12, killing 35 people including eight Americans.

"Post-May 12th, and the horrible bombing and terrorist attack in Riyadh, I think the Saudi government has had a renewed effort to try to bring extremism under control because they realise that those who perpetrated the bombing in Riyadh are as intent on harming the people of Saudi Arabia as they are in attacking American or foreign interests," he said.

Armitage said he was planning a trip to some Arab nations in September, but did not say which ones.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq