FBI Director Encouraged by Saudis’ Investigation

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, ending a visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, said he is encouraged by Saudi efforts to investigate the June truck bombing that killed 19 Americans.

But Freeh left Riyadh, the Saudi capital, without disclosing what progress, if any, had been made in the investigation into the June 25 attack on a U.S. military housing complex in Dhahran. Clinton administration officials have expressed frustration with the investigation, run primarily by the Saudis with FBI participation.

In a brief statement issued Sunday in Washington, the FBI said Freeh “was pleased with the efforts and thoroughness of the Saudi law enforcement authorities to solve this heinous act of terrorism. Close cooperation between the FBI and Saudi officials will continue.”

Associated Press reported in Riyadh that Freeh arrived in the Saudi capital late Friday and left Sunday after meeting with Prince Nayif ibn Abdulaziz, the powerful interior minister. He met Saturday with Gen. Saleh Khisayfan, the head of the kingdom’s secret service, according to a Saudi official who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

In the attack, the second against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia in less than a year, a 5,000-pound truck bomb exploded outside the Khobar Towers housing complex on a Saudi air base in Dhahran. All the casualties were Air Force members.

President Clinton, vowing to find and punish those responsible, immediately dispatched FBI agents to work with Saudi investigators.

But the investigation has not been going smoothly. Freeh’s latest visit followed two earlier trips to Saudi Arabia to urge King Fahd and top Saudi officials to share evidence from the investigation and allow FBI agents to question suspects.