After months of secret preparation, a delegation of radical Islamists was supposed to meet senior Saudi officials this week to find a way to end the campaign of terror that has shaken the kingdom for the past six months.

That meeting will now not take place.

The suicide attack in the capital Riyadh last Sunday ended all hopes of a compromise - at least for now.

"This is a violent divorce," says a Saudi official. "It is too late for marriage counseling."

That view is echoed by Saudi Islamists.

"This is war," says a statement by Jaish al-Ansar (Army of the Victors), one of a dozen terror groups dedicated to the destruction of the Saudi monarchy...