WASHINGTON — Three explosions and gunfire rocked a residential compound Saturday in the Saudi Arabian capital, of Riyadh, one day after the United States ordered its embassy there shut because of new terrorist threats and capping a week in which Saudi security forces clashed with anti-Western militants in the country.
At least four people were reported dead, but estimates from the compound in the western part of the city suggested that more than 20 people may have been killed and scores injured. The explosions occurred near the diplomatic quarter that houses the U.S. and other foreign embassies and the area where many senior members of the Saudi royal family live.
A compound resident, Rabie Hadeka, told Al Arabiya television that "about 20 to 30 people have been killed and 50 to 60 injured." Al Arabiya later reported that at least four people had died.
Hadeka said that "around 10 buildings collapsed and shattered. Glass was spread everywhere."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt said from Washington, D.C., that one American was wounded and one was unaccounted for. The U.S. Embassy remained closed today, and American diplomats restricted their movements to the diplomatic quarter about three miles away.
The official Saudi Press Agency described the attack as "a terrorist bombing."
A Jordanian resident at the compound told the Reuters news service he heard heavy gunfire before the explosion. "I heard shots, many shots, and then one big explosion," said the resident, who identified himself as Alaa. "Many villas were damaged — four or five even collapsed. My house was far away, but my windows were shattered."
The latest explosions were reminiscent of the May 12 blasts in three Riyadh neighborhoods known to house Americans and other Westerners that left 35 people dead, including the nine bombers.
Like the earlier assaults, the new attacks came on the heels of a crackdown on militants by Saudi forces and appeared aimed at punishing the Persian Gulf state for cooperating with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. U.S. intelligence officials said the new blasts were preceded by an increase in "chatter" among militant groups throughout the Persian Gulf region.
U.S. concern spiked Thursday after a Saudi raid on a reputed terrorist cell in Mecca that turned into a shootout between Saudi authorities and suspected terrorists. "They killed some guys, and others got away," one U.S. official said of the Thursday clash.
U.S. officials worried that the Mecca raid might prompt the operatives who escaped to speed up previously planned attacks — as they apparently did in May, when militants set off the blasts only days after an intense firefight between Saudi police and suspected members of an al-Qaida cell.
Even before Thursday’s raid in Mecca, U.S. officials worried that militants might be planning a wave of attacks during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. They noted that assaults and bombings often occur in the wake of recorded messages from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the latest of which — an audiotape calling for bold new attacks against the United States — surfaced last month.
In Riyadh, the U.S. Embassy said that it had received intelligence that terrorists were planning attacks in the Gulf state. It warned Americans to be "vigilant when in any area that is perceived to be American or Western."
Like the May bombings, the new blasts outraged the Saudi government. "These people have targeted Muslim and Arab people, innocent people. They are trying, really, to give the impression that they can target anyplace in order to show that the government can’t protect its citizens," one Saudi aide said. "The government is pressing them, and everyone in the kingdom who detests their tactics is gathering force to fight them," he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
