RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- An official Saudi newspaper reported Sunday that a top al Qaida leader led the recent attack against a residential complex in Riyadh.
The Ukaz daily newspaper quoted unnamed sources that said Seif al-Adl al-Misri issued the orders to the attackers through a satellite mobile phone. The attack killed 18 people and injured 122 others.
Saudi authorities had earlier accused him of masterminding a similar attack in another housing complex in Riyadh last May that killed 35 people and injured 194 others.
The sources said that al-Misri was among 500 other al Qaida members residing in the northern Iranian province of Balushestan, that had gone into the Iranian territories during the U.S. air strikes on Afghanistan in November 2001.
They said that the al Qaida members in Iran were in contact with affiliates and leaders of the organization, including Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.
The report came one day after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami sent a message of condolences to the Saudi government for the Riyadh attack, in which he also condemned it as a "criminal act."
