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At Least 20 Killed, Including 10 Americans, In Riyadh Blasts
RIYADH,
May 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At least 20 people,
half of them Americans, were killed in the bombing attacks that rocked
three expatriate compounds in Riyadh overnight, officials and
residents said Tuesday, May 13.
Ten
Americans were feared dead and many other foreigners lost their lives
in the attacks, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters
after arriving in the Saudi capital on a previously scheduled stop in
a Middle East tour.
Australian
officials said an Australian man was killed in the blasts, which also
claimed the life of a son of Riyadh's deputy governor Abdullah
al-Blaihed, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
governor's son, Mohammad al-Blaihed, 35, was among at least 11 people
killed in the suicide bombing of the Al-Hamra expatriate compound in
eastern Riyadh, residents said.
Three powerful blasts rocked the Saudi
capital Monday night, including one at a residential compound for
mainly U.S. nationals and another targeting an American consultancy.
A
State Department official said the United States believes three car
bombs were detonated in front of three Riyadh compounds housing
American and other Western nationals.
The
Saudi
Interior Ministry confirmed the three explosions without immediately
detailing the targets of the blasts, which occurred on the eve of a
visit to the kingdom by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell who is
now in Jordan as part of a Middle East tour, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
explosions also came days after Riyadh announced it had uncovered a
cell of the al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born
Osama bin Laden.
Residents
said at least three people, including a Western national, were killed
in one of the explosions.
The
three men - the Westerner whose nationality was not immediately known,
a Saudi and a
Lebanese - died when a blast hit the Al-Hamra residential compound in
eastern Riyadh that is home mainly to Americans and other Westerners.
"Many
of the wounded were in critical condition when they were transferred
to hospital," one resident told AFP.
Two
villas in the compound, on the road to the city's airport, were
wrecked and a restaurant and leisure center burned in the explosion
which residents said had been triggered by a car bomb.
At
least 50 injured from the blasts were admitted to the National Guard
hospital but four other hospitals in the eastern sector of the capital
also reported receiving a number of wounded.
Japan
said three of its nationals were slightly hurt.
Gunfire
was heard in the Al-Hamra compound both before and after the
explosion, witnesses said. It was not immediately possible to confirm
the exact number of injured or if there were any dead.
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Three explosions rocked the residential area
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But
Saudi-owned
Al-Arabiya satellite news channel reported that a number of charred
bodies were transferred to hospital.
A
resident of Al-Hamra district, where the complex is located, said the
explosion had been caused by a car bomb.
"Armed
men fired on the guards of the compound before driving into the
complex and blowing up the car," Awadh al-Qahtani told AFP.
Dozens
of police vehicles surrounded the compound and helicopters circled
overhead.
Another
explosion targeted the premises of Venyl, an American consultancy for
the Saudi
National Guard, which is headed by Crown Prince Abdullah, witnesses
said.
The
building, in the Janadriyah district also in eastern Riyadh, houses
both the offices and residences of Venyl personnel. Ambulances were
again sent to the scene, where a fire had broken out.
A
Saudi
security official initially said a third blast targeted the Sianco
company affiliated to the National Guard which employs foreign experts
in Al-Nahda district, facing a security academy named after Interior
Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz.
But
another source said Sianco is located next to the Venyl premises and
was not specifically targeted.
A
compound in the area inhabited by expatriates, mainly Americans, was
the target of the third blast, according to the source close to the
manager of the al-Jadawel complex.
The
source said the blast caused casualties, but no further details were
immediately available.
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The blasts occurred hours before arrival in Riyadh
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In
a message following the blasts, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh urged the
up to 40,000 Americans residing in the kingdom to stay at home, keep
away from windows and doors, and keep cellular phones charged and
available.
It
said the embassy had received reports of attacks against several
residential compounds in the Riyadh area beginning at approximately
11:00 pm (2000 GMT), adding that it had "some reports ... of
casualties."
"Saudi
security forces are responding to the attacks and have been asked to
take the appropriate measures to protect all other sites in the
kingdom where Americans reside," the embassy said.
Al-Qaeda
Earmarks
In
Amman, Powell said Tuesday, May 13, that blasts targeting foreigners'
residential compounds in Riyadh overnight had "the earmarks of
al-Qaeda", condemning the explosions in Saudi Arabia.
"I
think it's just part of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations'
willingness to kill innocent people in order to push forward a
criminal agenda, a terrorist agenda that very often has no purpose,
has no meaning other than to strike out in rage," Powell said.
Asked
who was behind the attacks, Powell said, "I don't know yet, I
think the suspects are clear though, it has the earmarks of
al-Qaeda."
Saudi-born
Osama bin Laden's group was responsible in particular for the
September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Powell
was speaking at a press conference in Amman during a Middle East tour
which is also scheduled to take him to Saudi
Arabia.
"I
condemn the terrorist attacks that took place in Saudi
Arabia overnight, I condemn the cowardly individuals who sneaked in
the middle of the night to kill innocent civilians," he also
said.
"Terror
is a global phenomenon which we must all fight."
“Suicide
Bombers”
For his part, the Saudi
Interior Minister said in remarks published Tuesday, that the three
major attacks in Riyadh late Monday were carried out by suicide
bombers linked to the al-Qaeda network.
"These
explosions were suicide bombings, which are unprecedented in the
kingdom," and are linked to the terror cell uncovered in Riyadh
last week and said to belong to al-Qaeda, Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz
told the daily Okaz.
The
Minister also said in statements to Al-Watan daily that orders
had been issued to raise the security alert throughout the vast
kingdom.
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