Yesterday's attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah demonstrated once again the ruthless depravity of terrorists who are the sworn enemies of order and decency. However, the determined manner in which elite security forces quickly overwhelmed the attackers was a display of the resolution with which the authorities are prepared to act against this terrible scourge.

In being optimistic that three of the terrorists were killed and two were captured, we should also mourn the loss of four brave men from the security forces who gave their lives in liberating the consulate. However, their sacrifice and the stunning loss to their families has not been in vain. This latest outrage, coming after some six months of relative quiet, would seem to demonstrate that the terrorists have been severely weakened by the unrelenting campaign against them, which has seen the arrest of hundreds and the capture or death of many of their leaders. The murderous assault yesterday was well planned in that it managed to overcome part of the tight security that has been in place around all prime targets in the Kingdom. However, the terrorists clearly underestimated the swiftness and power of the response from the authorities. It would seem that the security forces have learned valuable lessons from past attacks and that intensive vigilance and increased training are paying off.

Saudi Arabia is only one front in the international war against terror. However, the quiet determination here in the Kingdom that these deluded maniacs will not be allowed to succeed is greater than anywhere else. Since the end of its amnesty the government has made it clear that those who have not surrendered will be crushed without mercy. And this is happening. Awful though these attacks are, every one of them provides invaluable new evidence to help track down the terrorists to the cesspits where they hide and breed.

Yesterday’s wicked strike will yield even more invaluable forensic information. The identities of the dead and captured will open up fresh avenues of investigation. Questioning of the survivors has in the past often brought confessions and the unmasking of other killers and their safe houses and bases. Every terrorist crime leads the police closer to their unmasking and destruction.

From a political point of view it is easy to see why the Americans have again been chosen as targets. Their actions, particularly in Iraq, have fomented not reduced terrorism. President Bush ought by now to be asking himself if he needs to be reviewing the way he is waging his war against this worldwide menace. An even-handed policy on Palestine would certainly wrest from the terrorists one of their loudest recruiting drums. Realistically, however, we know that justice for the Palestinians is not going to stop this disease, even if it serves to disinfect the worldwide battlefield on which this struggle is being waged. International terrorism can only be removed by surgical operation, by the unremitting assault upon its practitioners and the tracking down of its sinister and shadowy supporters.

Yesterday’s despicable attack, with its tragic consequences for four brave men and their families, was therefore another milestone in the long road we must travel to cut this cancer out of our system. It will not be the last terror strike but it will have shown the hidden killers that they are assaulting a decent society now fully alert and ready to match ruthlessness with ruthlessness.