RIYADH,(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia”s King Abdullah renewed an appeal on Monday to militants to end a two-year campaign of violence and surrender to the authorities.
Abdullah told a weekly cabinet meeting that the kingdom”s national day, which falls on Friday, offered a fresh opportunity "to members of the deviant group … to hand themselves over to security forces", the official Saudi Press Agency said. Last year Abdullah offered al Qaeda members a one-month amnesty to surrender. The agency did not say whether he was repeating the offer, but officials have often said that militants who give themselves up would be treated leniently.
More than 90 foreign and Saudi civilians have been killed since May 2003 in al Qaeda violence aimed at toppling the pro-Western royal family and evicting non-Muslims from the birthplace of Islam.