[2][5] Al-Asiri spoke to Muhammad bin Nayef a few days prior to the bombing and expressed his desire to surrender to the authorities as part of the country's terrorist rehabilitation program,[6][7][8] and they agreed to meet.

[9] On 27 August 2009, Asiri queued up at Muhammad bin Nayef's Jeddah palace as a "well-wisher," a tradition in the kingdom during Ramadan.

[10][11] Assisted by his older brother, Ibrahim al-Asiri, he had hidden a pound (about 0.45 kg) of PETN plastic explosives in his rectum and anal canal, which security experts described as a novel technique.

[15] According to Al Arabiya, this was the first assassination attempt against a royal family member since 2003, when Saudi Arabia faced a sharp increase in al-Qaeda linked attacks.

[16] The Saudi Gazette reported on October 22, 2009, that a Yemeni named Rayed Abdullah Salem Al Harbi assisted Asiri in preparing for his suicide mission.