A Saudi prince tasked with heading his country’s anti-terrorism campaign was wounded on Thursday night when a wanted militant blew himself up in an apparent assassination attempt.

It was the first apparent retaliation since the kingdom began a crackdown on al-Qaeda affiliated groups eight years ago.

Prince Muhammad bin Nayef was lightly wounded in the attack and has already been released from the hospital, said local press.

In a statement released by the Royal Court, Prince Muhammad said that the attack “will only my determination to eradicate this [militancy]”. The statement went on to describe the attack, which took place at 11.30pm as the prince was greeting well-wishers for the Ramadan holy month at his Jeddah home.

The militant, whose name has not been released but was on the Saudi’s most wanted list, managed to pass through security before exploding a bomb fixed to his body. The Saudi arm of al-Qaeda has already claimed responsibility for the attack.

Saudi officials have recently stepped up their campaign against militants, arresting 44 men this month whom they suspect of ties to al Qaeda. Major General Mansour Al Turki, spokesman of the Interior Ministry, said the men had received training both in Saudi Arabia and abroad.

Prince Muhammad has served as deputy interior minister for over a decade, and is seen as having control of the day-to-day anti-terrorism operations. His father, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdelaziz, was criticised by the US in the months after the September 11 attacks for not taking action against al Qaeda militancy. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks.

Though Prince Muhammad’s work has been commended for his anti-terrorism campaign, human rights organisations have questioned the tactics used by the Saudi family to capture and interrogate militants. Those arrested by the authorities are often not given access to lawyers, or notified of the allegations against them. Human rights groups also claim that the kingdom also uses their security sweeps to silence political dissidents.

Saudi Arabia has denied the problems, claiming that its programme has spearheaded anti-terrorism campaigns across the Middle East.

Thursday’s bombing, however, could threaten the Saudi programme or encourage other groups to retaliate. It was the first al Qaeda attack against the government since militants rammed a car bomb into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004. It was also the first assault on a member of the royal family since 2003, when al Qaeda launched a wave of attacks killing across the kingdom leaving more than 150 people dead.

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