RIYADH - Saudi security forces, having dealt a blow to Al-Qaeda inside the kingdom, are on guard for the return of Saudi Islamist militants from their "jihad" (holy war) against US troops in neighbouring Iraq.
"Of course we expect whoever is left (in Iraq) to come back to Saudi Arabia. But of course, we will deal with them the same way we dealt with the others," said interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Mansoor Sultan al-Turki.
Two years after the outbreak of a bloody wave of attacks, Saudi authorities say they have broken the back of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, whose last strike now dates back to December.
According to official figures, 90 civilians, 41 security personnel and 110 militants have died in a spate of deadly attacks in Saudi Arabia, many targeting Westerners, since May 2003.
"I would say we have accomplished the mission by either killing or capturing them," Turki said in an interview with AFP.
But "we cannot say we have reached the situation where we can ensure that no terrorist crime could be implemented in the kingdom. We are not saying that," he cautioned.
In a major coup for the Saudi authorities, 15 suspected militants were killed, including two Al-Qaeda chiefs, in early April in a gunbattle with security forces in Al-Rass, 320 kilometres (190 miles) north of Riyadh.
From a list of 26 most wanted militants published in December 2003, only three remain at large, including Saleh al-Oufi, an ideologue of the movement who reports at the time had said was killed in the Al-Rass clash.
"He is still alive and he is still wanted," said the interior ministry spokesman.
A diplomat posted in Riyadh said that behind the official statements on a job well done, the Al-Qaeda threat still posed a real threat. "I don't think they are naive enough to believe Al-Qaeda is finished," he said.
The next generation is waiting in the wings.
"Whatever the outcome in Iraq, those people will come back one day," said the diplomat. "They will come back battle-hardy and trained in urban warfare, with the kind of experience comparable to the Afghan example."
Several thousand Saudis, including Al-Qaeda chief bin Laden, were schooled in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet army during the 1980s. But Turki argued that the two conflicts were quite different.
The so-called Arab Afghans underwent heavy-duty training, whereas they are being used as "cannon-fodder" in the suicide bombings in Iraq.
Their "job would be driving the car that is prepared for (them) to the target. This is how they are being used now in Iraq ... They are being put in cars and asked to drive them to just do the job," said Turki.
Also, "the number of (Saudi) people who are involved in Iraq is not really (comparable) in any way to those who were involved in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya," he said.
"We were talking about thousands of people who joined the jihad in Afghanistan, because that was something encouraged by everybody," said Turki. "We believe the number (of Saudis) in Iraq is much, much fewer."
He refused to hasard an estimate, but said that their number was being vastly exaggerated. "Everybody is talking about Saudis in Iraq, but nobody can give a number."
The New York Times, based on a study of Islamist websites, has said Saudis make up the largest contingent among the suicide bombers.
Saudi Arabia has already had a tough time improving its image, which was dented by the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States in which 15 of the 19 plane hijackers were Saudis.
Turki said he had no information of how many Iraq-bound Saudis had been detained inside the kingdom, but he pointed out that of 1,200 foreign fighters recently arrested in Syria, only some 30 were Saudi nationals.

05/31/2005 14:29 GMT