Saudi king says spared lives of "rascal" militants

RIYADH, Aug 26 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said in comments published today that he personally intervened to ensure that the lives of ''rascal'' militants were spared in a siege of a building containing terror suspects.

The comments in an interview with the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat suggested that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is increasingly confident that it has tamed a 3-year-old militant campaign to depose the US-allied royals.

Islamist radicals surrendered after Saudi security forces besieged the building in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah last Monday. Clashes with al Qaeda supporters over the last three years have usually resulted in deaths, and police often employed huge firepower in shoot-outs in urban areas.

''The operation was completed successfully and none of our brave security forces were lost. The lives of citizens are dear to us, including those of the group of 'rascals','' said the king, using a word normally used to refer to naughty children.

''Although the security forces were keen (to storm the building), I asked them to wait and be patient, since there's no need to rush ... even the lives of the 'deviant group' are important to us,'' he added, using the Arabic phrase authorities most often use to refer to militants.

Saudi media cultivate an image of the king, who came to power one year ago, as a father figure to the diverse nation of Bedouin tribes and city dwellers in the Arabian peninsula.

In June, the king renewed an amnesty he first offered to repentant militants two years ago when he was then crown prince and when the Islamists' campaign was at its height.

But the violent campaign by supporters of Osama bin Laden has ebbed in the face of toughened security measures.

Officials say more than 136 militants and 150 foreigners and Saudis, including security forces, have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when suicide bombers hit three Western housing compounds in Riyadh.

REUTERS DKA HS1545