Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Interior Minister, has said that the Kingdom was determined to root out Al-Qaeda network. Of late, the deviants have altered their strategy, but security forces are geared up to confront them at any cost, Prince Naif said. “Big hurdles have been placed in the anti-terror campaign as deviants have changed their tactics,” Prince Naif told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. “We stand firm in facing up to the security and intellectual challenges posed by the terrorism menace,” Prince Naif was quoted as saying by the Arabic daily. “We will confront by all means,” the minister said. Some progress has been made in identifying the sources funding the terrorists, he said. “These deviants would not succeed without this financial support and security authorities have information about financers of Al-Qaeda network here,” Prince Naif said. “We hope that it won't be too long before the details in this respect are made public,” he said. Commenting on security agreements Prince Naif said Saudi Arabia has received promises from the Iraqi side to extradite Saudi citizens detained in that country. Saudi Arabia has already received a number of detainees through the Public Intelligence Service. “However, large number of detainees have yet to be extradited and we await the Iraqi side to deliver on its promise in this matter,” he said. Prince Naif ruled out the possibility that Iran may be detaining Saudi citizens, adding however that “Individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda may be in Iran and channels of communication are open between them and the Kingdom at all levels.” Prince Naif dismissed reports that the Kingdom has accused eight Bahraini nationals of spying for Iran. “Unfortunately, what is posted on the Internet is not based on facts”, he said. Prince Naif said intellectual confrontation of terrorism remains below the desired scale. “I am of the view that intellectual security and intellectual confrontation are matters which are not less important than security action,” he said. Shariah experts, intellectuals, universities and scientific centers must face up to the deviant ideology, he said. Prince Naif expressed hope that all scientific and academic institutions would discharge their assigned roles in combating intellectual terrorism, adding that this would be conducive to achieving an intellectual security strategy that confronts intellectual terrorism effectively. __
