RIYADH, Aug 29, (AFP): Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz said in comments published on Monday that terrorism remains a threat for the Sunni Gulf kingdom and accused Shiite Iran of targeting it.
“We will continue to be a target for terrorists, who will continue attempting to attack us, supported by other parties,” Al-Eqtissadiya newspaper quoted Prince Nayef as saying.
“Evil surrounds us from all sides,” he said, citing unrest in neighbouring Iraq and Yemen, as well as “Iran and its targeting of the kingdom.” He did not elaborate.
Saudi Arabia witnessed a wave of deadly attacks by al-Qaeda between 2003 and 2006, which prompted a security force crackdown on the local branch of the jihadist network founded by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
 al-Qaeda remains very active in neighbouring Yemen, where the Saudi and Yemeni franchises of al-Qaeda joined forces under the banner of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A suicide bomber from the group blew himself up in August 2009 in an abortive attempt on the life of Prince Nayef’s son, Prince Mohammed, who leads the campaign against Islamist militants in the kingdom.
Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia rose sharply in March when Saudi troops intervened in Bahrain to help the Gulf kingdom’s Sunni ruling family suppress month-long protests led by its Shiite majority community, triggering angry protests from Tehran.
Meanwhile, a senior Saudi member of  al-Qaeda warned the interior minister that he should expel non-Muslims from the kingdom, among other demands to stop considering him a target, in an online audio message.
Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a former Guantanamo detainee, addressed Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz with seven measures which he considered essential for “reform” in the ultra-conservative Gulf state and for the prince’s own safety, SITE Intelligence reported on Monday.
The measures included expelling non-Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula, repealing all man-made laws and instituting (Islamic) sharia-based governance, the US-based monitoring service said.
They also included releasing prisoners, allowing preachers to speak with impunity and removing themselves as obstacles to those who wish to support Muslims in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, it added.
“This is the path if you wish to survive. If you do this, I will guarantee that the mujahedeen will not prepare another trap for you and that you will sleep safely in your bed and you will go as you please without fearing anyone,” Rubeish said.
He was alluding to an incident earlier this month when a gunman fired at Prince Nayef’s palace near the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia witnessed a wave of deadly attacks by  al-Qaeda between 2003 and 2006, which prompted Prince Nayef to launch a security force crackdown on the local branch of the jihadist network founded by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
 Al-Qaeda remains very active in neighbouring Yemen, where the Saudi and Yemeni franchises of  al-Qaeda joined forces under the banner of  al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A suicide bomber from the group blew himself up in August 2009 in an abortive attempt on the life of Prince Nayef’s son, Prince Mohammed, who leads the campaign against Islamist militants in the kingdom.