Bombing Incident, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Senior Defense Official: This is on background so you can attribute it to a Senior Defense Official.
The Air Force has set up an 800-number for family members only to call seeking information about people and their families in Saudi Arabia. That number is 1-800-253-9276. It's supposed to be running now, starting at 8 o'clock. We have tried it and not been able to get through yet. If it's not running immediately it should be running very soon. Please stress if you report this that it is set up for family members.
Secondly, I'm going to sort of walk you through what happened and then answer your questions I want to stress at the beginning -- and this is why this briefing is on background -- that a lot of these figures and descriptions are preliminary. This happened at about 10 o'clock, Saudi Arabia time. So it happened at 9:55 Saudi Arabia time so it's in darkness. We don't have a full account yet. Obviously, we're concentrating on medical evacuation and care at this stage. As soon as we get information we'll try to make it available.
The latest count now is that there are still 160 people injured. Sixty seriously, and 11 dead at this stage. We believe these numbers apply to Americans. There could be other casualties of other nationalities, particularly Saudis because there was a Saudi housing area nearby the exploded truck, and we don't have figures on that yet. As I say, these are the best figures we've got . We believe they're American but they could be subject to change, obviously as we go on and learn more.
People have been evacuated primarily to the two hospitals in the area. There's quite a large hospital on the Abdul Aziz Air Force Base in Dhahran, where we once had to leave a reporter from the Los Angeles Times on a Sec Def trip because he had contracted a disease in Haiti. So it has good medical care there.
The truck is... Basically this is how we reconstruct what happened. There had been a series of suspicious activities in the area over the last several months, and security had been tightened significantly. Both in terms of passive restraint barriers and in terms of patrols and security forces. The security was handled both by Saudi forces -- the local police force, the Saudi Army force and by the [U.S.] Air Force which was the primary resident of this Khobar Towers complex. An Air Force security officer in an observation post saw the truck arrive near the barrier which was some 35 yards away from the nearest building.
Q: That was a U.S. Air Force officer?
A: It was a U.S. Air Force observer. I don't know if he was an officer or not. Probably wasn't. I know many of you have been handed this. This is a diagram, if you don't have one you can get one from DDI -- of the Khobar Towers. We're trying to get a blown up version of this. This incident occurred right about here. And Building 131 seemed to have born the brunt of the explosion. Okay, the truck was stopped by barriers about 35 yards away. It was observed by the Air Force observer who immediately contacted U.S. and Saudi security forces. The Saudi forces -- the Saudi patrol went to the truck and, as they got close to the truck, two people leapt out of the truck jumped into a white car and drove off.
Contemporaneously, with learning of the truck being there, an alert was sent out. An attempt to alert people in the nearby buildings was made so they could get out. But remember it's ten at night. They announced that there was a security threat in an effort to try to evacuate the buildings. However, the truck exploded within three or four minutes of first being sighted so there was not a lot of time for evacuation.
Q: Was there one building?
A: There were two buildings. One very badly damaged and one partially damaged. We believe these buildings are eight to ten stories high. We don't know the extent of the damage except to say that one was very badly damaged and one was partially damaged.
There could be some collapsed floors in here in the buildings. We just don't know at this stage. We believe the bomb was large. Possibly as large as 5,000 pounds. It was a large explosion. It left a crater about 85 feet long and some 35 feet deep, and as I say this was about 35 yards away from the nearest building.
As the President announced, an FBI team is on its way to help the Saudis with the investigation. There, as far as we know, have been no... no one has claimed the blame for this heinous act. So it would be rank speculation right now as to who perpetrated it.
The Air Force has put two C-141s on alert to carry equipment over to Saudi Arabia. We've alerted medevac planes in Europe to be available, and we've alerted burn centers in the United States to available to care for people who are brought back.
As I say, we don't know the extent of the injuries at this stage. The damage seems to have been limited pretty much to the two buildings I mentioned. There was obviously a lot of flying glass and debris in the area. And also, what I can't report on because I don't know, was the amount of damage to some Saudi housing near the explosion.
A few other facts. The commander in charge is Major General Kurt B. Anderson of the Air Force who is the commanding general of Joint Task Force South West Asia, known as JTF SWA. He is stationed in Riyadh but he happened to be in Dhahran at the time for a change of command ceremony at the air wing -- the 4404th Provisional Air Wing, which operates out of Dhahran. The job of this Air Wing obviously is to carry out Operation Southern Watch which polices the No Fly, No Drive zone south of the 32nd parallel in Iraq. It's a multinational force that involves French and British as well. We do not have accounts of possible to injuries to French and British personnel, if any. It probably comes most appropriately from French and British officials, but there could be some injuries to other personnel as well as American military personnel and Saudi civilians.
With that I'll take your questions.
Q: To make it perfectly clear. You said that the 11 are all Americans. Is that...
A: We believe they are. I want to be perfectly clear that I don't have firm details on these things. They're subject to change. But we believe that these figures -- 160 overall casualties; 60 seriously injured and 11 dead apply to Americans, but we may wrong.
Q: That series of suspicious activity you reported. Was any group associated with it?
A: No. We don't really know. What we're talking about is the type of thing that frequently happens in these areas. People driving slowly by; people looking. As I say, this had been observed over a series of months and we had responded -- and the Saudis had responded quite aggressively by moving out the security perimeter, increasing patrols, license numbers were taken, and reported and people were followed up when they could be. So there had been no serious incidents in that area. But this all happened after the OPM SANG explosion back in November. There was overall bolstering of security at military installations -- American military installation all around Saudi Arabia.
Q: Can you expect the numbers to climb as the evening progresses?
A: Well, I do expect them to climb, but I don't know on what to base that. This is very early. We don't know the degree of injury at this stage. We hope they don't climb obviously. We would be very happy if they did not climb, but I think we have to be realistic about what happened.
Q: What kind of truck... I'm sorry.
Q: Are you talking about the total of 160 climbing higher or are you talking about some of the 60 seriously injured becoming (inaudible).
A: Well, all of this is speculation. You've covered more of these than I've spoken about. We're giving you the best figures we have right now. I probably shouldn't speculate on what will happen, but I think as we learn more, we'll give you the figures as soon as we get them.
Q: Specifically, what can you tell us about what kind of truck this was?
A: Well we think this was... It appeared to be a fuel truck. Now, what it had in it, I don't know. But it appeared to be a tanker truck of some sort.
Q: Is a theory operating here? You said it appeared to be a large bomb. It could be as much as 5,000 pounds. Is the theory that it was loaded with explosives?
A: We don't know. I don't know whether the tanker was loaded. I don't know that.
Q: Was there a significant fire as a result of --
A: I don't know that either.
Q: Ken, do you have any description of the driver?
A: No.
Q: Do you have any more on the observer who spotted the truck?
A Well, he was an Air Force person whose job was to be looking around the area. He was part of the security team that had been set up. That's what he was doing. He spotted the truck coming up immediately and issued the order, or the notice that forces on the ground should go out and inquire as to what was happening.
Q: So did it attempt to come through the gate, or --
A: No it didn't attempt to come through the gate. It came up to a perimeter fence and stopped.
Q: So the explosion did not occur in the territory itself on the base?
A: It did not occur inside the housing area. It occurred outside the housing area.
Q: In the territory of the base?
A: Well, this housing area is on the Air Force Base, but the truck did not penetrate into the center of this Khobar Tower housing area. It was kept outside by security barriers.
Q: About 35 yards from the --
A: About 35 yards from the nearest building.
Q: These two buildings. What kind of buildings were they? Were they used for housing or were they --
A: They were apartment buildings. They were, we believe about eight to ten stories high.
Q: How could they have gotten on to the base to do this?
A: That's... I don't know that but obviously trucks have to go on bases. That's one of the things that will be easier to learn as we have more time. Right now it's the middle of the night in Saudi Arabia, and we're concentrating primarily on the medical aspects. Medical evacuation and care.
Q: Were they on the base?
A: No. My understanding is that this housing area is on - - it is a large area. It is a large base. And it is on -- this housing area is part of the base. That's my understanding. Yes.
Q: Is it for foreigners? The housing complex?
A: The housing complex was for foreigners. But it was next to a housing area for Saudis.
Q: But they didn't they have to go through a gate?
A: I don't know the answer to that. I do not know the answer to that question.
Q: Can you be any more specific about the suspicious nature.
A: As I say it was low level stuff. It was observed. People driving by slowly; people pausing at the security barriers. People stopping for four minutes and then driving on - - that type of thing. But it was... This had been going on for a long period of time, but I want to point out, that starting in November, security was improved at many places in Saudi Arabia after the OPM SANG bombing in Riyadh. And it was certainly improved here. And I said the two ways it was improved were passive restraint barriers and increased patrols.
Q: Can you just give us a little context. How many U.S. personnel live at the towers. How many are there in Dhahran and how many in Saudi Arabia.
A: In this apartment area, housing area, there are approximately 2,900 Americans, we believe. Most of those Americans come through on temporary assignments. The Air Force, I think, is there for about three months. Most of the people -- the preponderance of people were Air Force. There was also a Patriot Air Defense missile unit and a signal unit there as well. Army Signal. Both Army. A signal brigade and a Patriot missile unit.
Q: Do you know a number for all of Saudi?
A: I do not know a number for all of Saudi. There are probably about 1,500 military people permanently stationed in Saudi Arabia, that is, that don't come through for three month temporary duty assignments.
Q: Were the Americans targeted here? It kind of sounds like it?
A: Well, I think that's one of the things we'll have to find out. As I pointed out, we believe that a number of Saudis were hurt in this as well, and I think it would be premature to... I mean, it does look like a terrorist act. It was directed against a foreign presence in Saudi Arabia, but we will have to wait until the FBI team gets over there and works with local Saudi authorities to figure out who was behind this.
Q: What are the options for a U.S. response? After the previous bombing incident, four suspects were apprehended, tried, convicted and beheaded. That just seemed to provoke another attack. What are the options for U.S. response at this time?
A: I think it's premature to speculate about that right now because, we're -- as I said -- we're concentrating mainly on the medical care at this stage and we'll be reviewing a range of options after we have a clearer idea of what happened here and who did it. Yes.
Q: This truck, though, did get stopped at a check point, is that right?
A: No, let me make this clear. The full housing area, the Kohbar Tower was surrounded by a security perimeter. It stopped opposite some barriers as I understand it. I'm not aware that it was at a gate. But I'm not positive on all the details as exactly where it was at this time.
Q: [inaudible] the potential of this talk about them, the land. Is there a potential that they might have gotten closer --
A: I don't want to speculate about that. The barriers were there to stop entrance and they succeeded in stopping entrance into the compound.
Q: Do you know of any way they could have gone through?
A: It would be speculation on my part. I just don't know the details.
Thank you.