Five Saudi children were among the 17 dead, after the latest al Qaeda bombing on Saturday night November 8, 2001. A residential area in Riyadh Saudi Arabia

fell victim to the latest al Qaeda car bombing. The bombing also wounded 122 people, according to the Saudi government.

Al-Majalla, a London based magazine received an email, in which al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. Saudi officials, and the US state department

have indicated that al Qaeda was responsible for the attack.

The latest al Qaeda bombing was similar in many ways to the May 12th attack in Riyadh. The selection of soft targets, appears to be an al Qaeda strategy

to terrorize civilians, and provoke fear among Saudi citizens.

The relationship between the Saudi Arabian government, and al Qaeda has soured

this year as a result of the two major terrorist attacks. King Fahd has indicated that he would attack the terrorists with a “iron fist.”

The deterioration of relations between Saudi Arabia, and former Saudi Osam bin Laden, may tend to reduce bin Laden’s funding from sources within Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden appears to be convinced that Saudi leaders are too close to US policymakers, and that retribution is necessary to achieve the political goals of

the terrorist group.

The relationship between Saudi leaders, and al Qaeda has worsened since May 12th. According to CNN Analyst Peter Bergen: “We saw on May 12 another devastating attack similar to this.That was really Saudi's 9/11. For them, that was a big wake-up

call. They hadn't really been cracking down on al Qaeda until that point. They had not really been cooperating in the 9/11 investigation.”

As a result, of the increasing security operations targeting al Qaeda cells within Saudi Arabia, many of the terrorists are heading for Iraq. The Saudi terrorists hope to join with other al Qaeda jihadist members in their continuing struggle to over throw Bremer in Iraq.