Item of Interest - Tuesday April 19, 2005

Editor's Note:

On June 6, 2004 Frank Gardner, a BBC reporter, and his cameraman, Simon Cumbers were near a market in a poor neighborhood in Riyadh on their way to film the house of a militant killed in a 2003 shootout with Saudi authorities.  It was just over a week since militants had killed 22, including 19 foreigners, at compounds housing Western workers in the Eastern Province city of al-Khobar.  

At about 5:40pm Gardner and Cumbers were attacked by gunmen who fled after shooting both men.  Cumbers was dead.  Witnesses said the gunmen left thinking Gardner, who was shot in the head, was also dead.  Gardner was rushed to a Riyadh hospital in "very critical condition" eventually to be airlifted to the United Kingdom where he recovered from his wounds. 

This week Mr. Gardner talked with the BBC about his experiences in Saudi Arabia and his appraisal of the insurgency in the Kingdom -- that nearly claimed his life -- as he prepared to return to work.  We thank Arab News for permission to reprint "Militants Losing Ground in Saudi Arabia."

Militants Losing Ground in Saudi Arabia: Gardner
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News

RIYADH, 19 April 2005 — BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardner, who was seriously wounded in the Kingdom when he was attacked by militants 10 months ago, said insurgency in Saudi Arabia was on the back foot with the Saudi security services gaining in confidence and skill.

Gardner was speaking to the BBC Sunday when he resumed his work after a prolonged period of medical treatment, initially in the Kingdom and then in Britain.

“Since the attack, the Saudi authorities have engaged in numerous shootouts with the militants, killing many of the key figures and uncovering large caches of arms and explosives,” he told the BBC.

On June 6, Gardner was one of two BBC staffers sprayed with bullets by unknown gunmen in the suburb of Suweidi in the south of Riyadh. The other man, Simon Cumbers, 35, succumbed to injuries on the spot while Gardner was taken to King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) on instructions from the Riyadh Governor Prince Salman ibn Abdul Aziz.

Gardner was shot with six bullets injuring his shoulders, spine and lower abdomen. He was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of KFSH for 16 days before being taken by air ambulance to London for further medical treatment.

The air ambulance was manned by a team of medical professionals who accompanied Gardner and his wife Amanda who had come to the Kingdom to be with her husband.

Gardner praised the care he received at KFSH. “Had I not been treated by an expert team from the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, led by the brilliant South African trauma surgeon, Dr. Peter Bautz, I would have been dead within two hours,” he said. Gardner, who underwent some 12 surgeries in an 8-month period, is officially disabled and confined to a wheelchair as his spinal nerves were severed by the bullets.

“I have also learned more recently about the cell that attacked me and my cameraman, Simon Cumbers, who was killed. As part of the group calling itself ‘Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular’, the gunmen were linked to those who carried out the massacre in Alkhobar a week earlier,” he explained.

Speaking about his assailants Gardner said, “They are part of the insurgency in Saudi Arabia. It’s not a rebellion; it’s a relatively small number of people who are dedicated to violent acts aimed at driving out westerners and bringing down the Saudi government.”

Reprinted with permission.

Profile: Frank Gardner