New York

13 May 2003

Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on terrorist acts in the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia

Over the past 24 hours, the world has had to bear witness, yet again, to heinous acts of terrorism. In both the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia many innocent people, going about their daily lives or asleep in their beds with no warning of what was to come, have lost their lives in cruel ways. The Secretary-General strongly condemns the vicious acts which took place in Znamenskoye and Riyadh. They were against all decent tenets of religion, against human rights, indeed against humanity. Terrorism can never be justified.