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Saudi King raps U.K. on terrorism

LONDON: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Monday accused Britain of failing to act on intelligence supplied by his government that may have averted the July 7 London bombings in which at least 52 persons were killed and hundreds injured.

His remarks, in an outspoken BBC interview, came as he arrived here on a four-day official visit — the first by a Saudi monarch in 20 years — amid threats of protests by rights activists, and anti-arms trade groups demanding an inquiry into allegations of corruption in arms sales to the Saudi government.

The King also said that most countries “including, unfortunately, Great Britain” were not doing enough to fight international terrorism. He was reported to be “annoyed” that his proposal for a United Nations-backed mechanism to share intelligence about terrorism had been largely ignored by the international community.

About the July 7 bombings, he said: “We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately, no action was taken. And it may have been able to, maybe avert the tragedy.”

This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has made such a claim, but Britain says it has found no evidence of any Saudi intelligence that could have prevented the attacks.

Meanwhile, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable announced a boycott of the visit and said he would not attend a state banquet to be held in the King’s honour.

“I think it’s quite wrong that as a country we should give the leader of Saudi Arabia this honour,” he said.

The visit has also been criticised by some Left-wing Labour figures who want Britain to take a tough line on alleged human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

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