Suicide bomber kills at least five, wounds scores at Riyadh housing compound

At least five people died and some 100 were wounded in a midnight suicide car bomb attack on a residential compound west of Riyadh, six months after similar blasts hit three complexes in the Saudi capital, officials said.

The blast came on the same day the United States closed its missions in Saudi Arabia for a security review after warning of possible terror attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, and which have been echoed by other Western states.

An official said Saturday night's carnage bore the hallmarks of the al-Qaeda network headed by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, whose followers here have been subjected to a relentless crackdown since they were blamed for last May's triple bombings.

"The method in which the bombing was executed is similar to that used in the May 12 bombings" of three residential compounds, the Saudi official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

"This confirms that those who carried out the bombing belong to the al-Qaeda movement," he said.

A senior official at the site told AFP that at least five people -- three Lebanese, one Sudanese and one Indian -- were killed in the midnight (2100 GMT) blast at the al-Muhaya complex in the Wadi Laban suburb, located behind the al-Yamama royal palace and overlooked by the palace of King Fahd's youngest son.

An Arab woman died in the attack, a security official earlier said as rescue workers continued to dig through the wreckage of villas.

Three US and three Canadian citizens, all of Arab descent, are among the wounded, according to a source at the hospital where they were treated.

Witnesses said the blast was the result of a suicide car bombing, carried out with a vehicle apparently stolen from security forces.

"A car laden with explosives succeeded in penetrating the fortified compound surrounded by cement blocks," a security officer at the site said.

"The car blew up inside the compound," he added, but could not tell if one suicide bomber or more were involved.

Compound owner Mohammad Saleh al-Muhaya said gunmen fired on guards from a hill overlooking the complex as the apparently stolen police jeep drove in.

An AFP correspondent at the scene saw the wreckage of the vehicle used in the bombing, which opened a crater around two meters (yards) deep in the ground.

At least 15 cars, including one with diplomatic license plates, were gutted by the explosion.

The blast, which shook buildings as far as the center of the Saudi capital, followed a series of Western warnings of possibly imminent terror attacks in Saudi Arabia.

It came in the middle of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan despite a massive crackdown by Saudi authorities on suspected Islamist extremists, stepped up in the wake of the May bombings that left 35 people dead.

A Saudi official told AFP that only one residential compound was bombed, denying an initial US State Department account that three complexes were hit by explosions.

"There may have been two or three blasts in the al-Muhaya compound, but there were no explosions in three (different) compounds," the official said, requesting anonymity.

The Saudi interior ministry said a "terrorist bombing" rocked the al-Muhaya compound, at a time when many people would have been awake just hours before the "suhur" meal preceding the dawn-to-dusk fast observed by Muslims during Ramadan, but did not provide further details.

An AFP correspondent saw dozens of ambulances and civil defense cars at the blast site as security forces cordoned off the area and a helicopter buzzed overhead several hours after the explosion.

A security man at the scene said no less than six villas were destroyed by the blast, while the compound manager said at least 100 people, mostly children, were wounded.

Manager Hanadi al-Khandakli said the complex comprised 200 villas, four of which are inhabited by Western families, including two German and one French.

Residents said the fourth family was British. Other inhabitants are Arabs, including Saudis.

The Foreign Office in London said it appeared that two Britons were unaccounted for, but stopped short of saying they were believed dead.

The stricken site lies some five kilometers (three miles) from the Diplomatic Quarter housing foreign embassies and diplomats' residences. The diplomatic sector was closed off by security forces after the blast.

The Omani assistant secretary general for military affairs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), General Ali al-Maamari, lives in the bombed complex but was not there at the time of the attack.

Saudi security forces have detained hundreds of militants and seized large arms caches in sweeps across the vast kingdom which have triggered repeated clashes with gunmen since May.

On Thursday, security officials said two suspected Islamist extremists blew themselves up in Mecca while a militant was gunned down in Riyadh in a shootout that left eight policemen lightly wounded.

US missions in Saudi Arabia closed for security reviews Saturday and the shutdown was extended after the blast, with Washington ordering its diplomatic staff and their families to remain in their homes and not leave the Riyadh area.

The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have all advised their citizens to defer non-essential travel to the oil-rich kingdom.

"The embassy continues to receive credible information the terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom," the US embassy had said in a recorded "warden" message.

In the United States, media reported that al-Qaeda operatives may be planning to hijack cargo jets in Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean and use them to attack power plants and other critical infrastructure.

Britain on Saturday also pinpointed Bahrain and Qatar as countries where there was "a high threat from terrorism" against Western targets.

Saudi suicide attack kills up to 30

11.09.2003 - 08:15
By Dominic Evans

RIYADH (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers have mounted a devastating attack on a Riyadh compound housing foreigners,
killing between 20 and 30 people and injuring up 100, diplomats say.

The huge explosion that gutted the Muhaya compound in the west of Saudi Arabia's capital occurred after Western nations issued fresh
terror alerts and Washington shut its missions in the kingdom, the world's biggest oil exporter.

Saudi officials said however virtually all the residents at the bombed compound were Arabs. One resident said most were Lebanese,
Egyptians and Syrians.

"This is a crime against innocents which is in the style of al Qaeda. It is an al Qaeda operation," a security source told Reuters. "This is a
suicide operation."

As rescuers searched amid rubble and raging fires, a Saudi-based senior Western diplomat said: "We don't have an exact toll and this is
initial, but our best guess is that between 20 to 30 were killed and 50 to 100 were injured."

One American was injured and another was reported missing, a U.S. diplomat said, but it was unknown if they were of dual nationality. In
Washington, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said: "It appears that no U.S. diplomats live at the compounds."

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, is battling a surge in Islamist violence. Supporters of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have threatened
both Saudi rulers and Western expatriates who hold key jobs in the kingdom.

"WHOLE WALLS BLOWN OUT"

A Reuters correspondent at the scene said: "I saw two bodies, one being carried away and another lying on the grass of the compound.
Whole walls of the 200 villas were blown out and glass covered the compound."

The explosion gouged a crater five metres (yards) wide and two metres deep. Children's toys were strewn among the rubble.

Soldiers, police, medics and firefighters rushed to the scene to try to find survivors under the rubble, using detectors and search lights.
Helicopters flew overhead and police sirens wailed.

The acrid smell of explosives filled the air and smoke was rising from the rubble hours after the attack.

The powerful explosion shook windows in central Riyadh several kilometres (miles) away.

A Saudi television correspondent said witnesses told him two cars drove into the compound and exploded inside.

"I can see one of the cars which is completely destroyed and I can see human remains," said the reporter. "We don't know how many
terrorists were in the cars."

The attack, in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, occurred nearly six months after triple suicide bombings at Riyadh housing compounds
on May 12 killed 35 people, including nine Americans.

Saudi Arabia blamed those bombings on al Qaeda. A purported bin Laden audio tape released last month promised more suicide attacks
inside and outside the United States.

The Saudi TV reporter said many of the injured taken away by ambulance were children under the age of 10.

HEAVY GUNFIRE

A Jordanian resident at the compound who identified himself only as Alaa said he heard heavy gunfire before the explosion.

"I heard shots, many shots, and then one big explosion. "Many villas were damaged, four or five even collapsed. My house was far away but
my windows were shattered," he told Reuters.

Arabic Al Arabiya television network showed footage of the injured covered in blood in hospital.

Hanady al-Ghandakli, director of Muhaya compound, told Al Arabiya, which is partly Saudi-owned, that almost all her tenants were Arabs.

"Four villas out of a total of 200 villas are occupied by Westerners, the rest are Arab nationals. There is one French family, one British
family, two German families, Italians," she said, adding security guards were stationed outside.

Five militants have been killed in clashes with security forces since Monday, when authorities said they had foiled a planned attack on
Muslim pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca.

On Friday, the United States issued its second security warning on Saudi Arabia in almost as many weeks, saying terrorists were planning
attacks in the kingdom. U.S. missions were shut in the kingdom on Saturday for a security review.

http://www.examiner.ie/breaking/2003/11/09/story120669.html

11/09/2003 - 7:30:37 AM

Fears for Britons as bombs rock Saudi compound

The search was continuing in daylight today for two Britons feared killed in a terror attack on a residential compound in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

Three explosions rocked the Muhayya compound late last night, a day after the United States warned of possible terrorist attacks in the kingdom.

A British couple and a woman were believed to be staying in the compound. Only the husband has so far been accounted for, a Foreign Office spokesman said early today.

He said: “We believe that there was one British couple staying on the compound and the husband has been accounted for. We also believe a British national may have been on the compound too.”

A Saudi government official said the blast came after gunmen tried to break into the compound and exchanged fire with security guards.

There were conflicting reports about the number of dead and wounded from the blasts, about midnight local time, at the compound in western Riyadh. The official Saudi Press Agency described the attack as “terrorist”.

Early estimates of the death toll have ranged from two to 30.

The manager of the targeted compound estimated 100 people were wounded, and a resident said 20 to 30 people were killed, Al-Arabiya TV said.

The Saudi Ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, today condemned the bombings.

“This is a terrible event carried out by evil people whose sole aim is the destruction of the kingdom,” he said.

“It goes against the grain of all humanity.

“We extend our total heartfelt sympathy to the innocent victims and families of all those hurt and affected by this bombing.

“We understand that most of these victims are women and children. We are committed to fighting those behind this evil cult with all and every possible resource.

“This evil must be stopped. The government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is totally committed to this.

“We thank God at least, following recent improved security measures, the bomber was unable to enter the compound where much greater and unthinkable damage, destruction and death could have been caused.

Rescue workers search for Riyadh bombing survivors. 09/11/2003. ABC News Online

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s985424.htm]

Last Update: Sunday, November 9, 2003. 7:07pm (AEDT)

Ambulances wait to ferry away bombing victims from a Riyadh housing compound. (AFP)

Rescue workers search for Riyadh bombing survivors
Emergency workers in Saudi Arabia have spent the night searching for survivors of a suicide bomb attack on a residential compound in the capital, Riyadh.

The manager of the compound says at least 100 people were wounded, including many children.

Three explosions reverberated across the Saudi capital after the bombers had shot their way into the Muhaya compound.

A number of buildings were completely demolished by the multiple blasts and the Riyadh skyline was lit up by fires that burnt throughout the night.

A high proportion of the casualties were women and children, because the men were at prayer for the holy month of Ramadan.

The Muhaya compound is said largely to house foreign workers but of Arab origin.

It was also once apparently home to western employees of the Boeing Aircraft Corporation.

Therefore if the attack was carried out by Al Qaeda the question is was this a failed attempt to kill westerners or simply an attempt to cause instability inside the kingdom, regardless of who would get hurt.

-- BBC

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.