At Least 10 Killed in Riyadh Blasts

13/05/2003| IslamWeb

At least 10 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when four powerful blasts rocked the Saudi capital Riyadh, all apparently targeting American-inhabited residences or offices, residents and hospital sources said. 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 US Secretary of State Colin Powell who is now in Jordan as part of a Middle East tour. 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, according to hospital sources. Also gunfire was heard in the Al-Hamra compound both before and after the explosion, witnesses said. "Armed men fired on the guards of the compound before driving into the complex and blowing up the car," Awadh al-Qahtani, a resident of Al-Hamra district where the complex is located, told AFP. Another explosion targeted the premises of Venyl, an American firm that trains members of the Saudi National Guard 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. But another source said Sianco is located next to the Venyl premises and was not specifically targeted. A compound in eastern Riyadh 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. In a message following the blasts, the US embassy in Riyadh urged the up to 40,000 Americans residing in the kingdom to stay at home and keep away from windows and doors. 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 ... have been asked to take the appropriate measures to protect all other sites in the kingdom where Americans reside," it said. On April 30, the embassy had warned that some illegal groups may be in the "final phases" of planning attacks on American interests in Saudi Arabia. With anti-US sentiment running high in the kingdom following the US-led war on Iraq, Riyadh and Washington announced in late April they were ending the presence of some 10,000 US troops, dozens of aircraft and a state-of-the-art command and control system in the kingdom. The State Department official said, however, that it was "way too early" to say whether al-Qaeda was behind Monday night's attacks. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Smoke rises as an ambulance rushes to the scene of an explosion caused by a car packed with explosives that rammed into a residential compound housing westeners in Garnata, an eastern suburb of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2003. No details were immediately available on casualties. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)