RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia says it hopes the killing of militant leader and former Saudi citizen Osama bin Laden will boost efforts to fight terrorism.
The Saudi Press Agency carried an official statement Monday expressing hope that bin Laden’s death will be a “step that supports the international efforts against terrorism.”
It added that the Saudi people in particular were targeted by “this terrorist organization,” referring to bin Laden’s al-Qaida, which once had an active branch in the desert kingdom.
A scion of a prominent Saudi family, bin Laden was stripped of his citizenship after he criticized the royal family’s reliance on U.S. troops to protect it after the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait.
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