The most serious violence to take place was a series of bomb blasts in Riyadh in late 1966 and early 1967. The bombings, which caused no known casualties, were claimed by the North Yemen-based Nasserite organisation Union of the People of the Arabian Peninsula [ittihad sha’b al-jazira al-‘arabiyya] (UPAP). After the attacks, Saudi authorities arrested several hundred Yemenis, executed 17 of them and expelled the rest.
1979
20 November–4 December (See Grand Mosque Seizure) – number of militants took over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca to protest the House of Saud’s policies of Westernization. The militants were well organized and armed and were initially able to repel attempts by the Saudi National Guard to storm the complex. The Saudis eventually brought in French and Pakistani commandos to help their forces retake the Mosque. Non-Muslim commandos underwent nominal conversion to Islam before being allowed into the Mosque. Eventually the Mosque was retaken and the 63 or 67 surviving male militants were executed. The number of people killed in the siege and the total number of militants involved are disputed. Official sources put the death toll at 255, but others suggest that it was higher. Ruhollah Khomeini addressed on Radio regarding the seizure of the Mosque on 21 November.
1988
30 September – four Shi’ite men are beheaded for blowing up fuel storage tanks at the Saudi Petrochemical Company (SADAF) facility in Jubail. They had entered the plant by cutting a hole in the perimeter fence. One tank happened to be empty, but another was full and burned for several days. Eventually the fire was extinguished when a firefighting team literally plugged the hole in the tank.
SADAF Engineer William (Bill) Parry (07.11.1941 – 18.12.2022) was the engineer responsible for the idea and design of the ‘plug’ that was used to stop the fire. He was also one of the volunteer firefighters who walked in to the fire to place it in position.
