On November 13, 1995, assassins blew up a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, communications center for the Saudi National Guard, killing seven and injuring 60. “Five of the dead were Americans. …[FBI agent in charge of counterterrorism] John O’Neill…had sent several agents to try to question the suspects, but they had been executed before the Americans got the chance to talk to them. Whatever al-Qaeda’s actual connection to the attack, [Saudi] Prince Turki would later describe the National Guard bombing as bin Laden’s ‘first terrorist blow.’ ”
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Pages 240-241