al-Arabiya Airs Tape of Suicide Bomber and Saudi Prince

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Yesterday, al-Arabiya television broadcast the telephone conversation between a suicide bomber and Saudi Arabia's security chief, Prince Mohammad bin Nayef. The phone call was all part of an assassination plot.

From al-Arabiya:

The prince is renowned for his anti-terrorism work in the kingdom, where he encourages militants to come forward.

Assiri goes on to ask the prince for a plane and tells him he will bring his brother along with him. The prince sounded compassionate and said he would try his best to sort things out.

Before hanging up, Assiri asked the prince for forgiveness and the prince told him: "Don't ask me to forgive you. You are our sons. We want to win you back and make sure no one is abusing you."

Assiri's assassination attempt strictly became a suicide mission. Nayef was only mildly wounded.

UPDATE: 9/30/09: So, as it turns out, the bomb was up Assiri's ass. No joke. 

UPDATE 10/7/09: The Washington Post is reporting today that Saudi Arabia and others are quite worried about al-Qaeda's new tactics that include the relationship between medicine and terror.