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A suicide car bomber struck in the Qatari capital of Doha the evening of March 19, killing one person and injuring at least a dozen. The target, the Doha Players Theater, was popular with Westerners living in the gas-rich emirate. In the weeks leading up to the bombing, several warnings had been issued of a possible terrorist attack in the Arabian Peninsula.
The bombing is consistent with a pattern of terrorist attacks in the Arabian Peninsula that began in 2003. At that time, the Saudis responded with a more active, but only slightly successful, attempt to fight the militant threat. More recently, however, raids on safe houses and arrests of cell leaders by Saudi security forces have more effectively interdicted al Qaeda cells operating in the kingdom. Although these have drawn a retaliatory strike -- such as the bombings near the Saudi Interior Ministry in Riyadh on Dec. 29, 2004 -- attacks against Western interests also continue, as highlighted by the Dec. 6, 2004, assault against the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah.
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