Saudi suicide attack sees prince’s stock rise

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Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.

A failed attempt on the life of Saudi Arabia’s security chief could strengthen the position of his conservative father, Interior Minister Prince Nayef, in the race to become the next king.

A suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant last week blew himself up in the Jeddah office of security chief Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in the first known attack on a member of the Saudi royal family since al Qaeda began a violent campaign in the desert Kingdom in 2003.

The attack has refocused attention on Saudi Arabia’s fight against Islamist insurgents, which Prince Nayef has led since 2003, winning plaudits from US officials.

“The security apparatus, embodied by [Interior Minister] Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz and even his son, will wield greater influence on the Kingdom’s policy agenda,” a Western diplomat in Riyadh said.

The world’s biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy without an elected parliament or rights to form political parties, where clerics of an austere school of Sunni Islam control mosques, education, courts and their own public policing body.

Saudi’s King Abdullah is seen as a supporter of Western-friendly reforms which aim to reduce the religious establishment’s hold on the country that produced al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. But diplomats say he has been stymied by conservative princes like Nayef, who maintains close ties to the clerics and does not want to upset the traditional balance of power between the religious establishment and the Saudi royal family.

Liberals fear for the fate of reforms if Prince Nayef were to be put in charge of the country, diplomats say.

Prince Nayef, believed to be 76, was appointed second deputy prime minister earlier this year, leaving him in charge of the country when King Abdullah and his appointed successor Crown Prince Sultan — who are both in their 80s — are abroad.

Prince Sultan has been out of the country since November because of unspecified illness and surgery, creating uneasiness over succession.

King Abdullah has set up an ‘Allegiance Council’ of senior princes to vote on future kings and their deputies, but analysts say rivalry and jockeying for position is already intense.

Newspapers in recent days were full of panegyric articles about Prince Mohammed, with advertisements of thanks featuring the portraits of the king, crown prince, Nayef and his son.

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