4 killed, 148 wounded in Saudi Arabia

A suicide car bomber destroyed a Saudi security forces building in the capital yesterday, killing four people, including two security men, and wounding 148 people in the first major attack on a government target.

The bombing came days after a US warning of a possible attack in the kingdom, a key US ally and the world's largest oil exporter, which is battling a tide of Islamist extremism linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

An Interior Ministry statement read on Saudi television said the four dead also included one civil servant and an 11-year-old Syrian girl.

Security sources earlier said at least 10 people, including a senior officer, were killed and 70 wounded in what an official said was the sixth attempt at such a "terrorist attack" in a week. Five others were foiled.

A Saudi official had identified the officer as Colonel Abdulrahman al-Saleh. Witnesses saw the body of the suicide bomber charred inside the vehicle.

The Interior Ministry statement said all but 45 of the wounded were discharged from hospital and that three were in critical condition.

The bomber tried to crash his vehicle into the compound in downtown Riyadh at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) and set off a huge blast 30 metres from the building when guards tried to stop him, the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and Interior Minister Prince Nayef visited the wounded and pledged to punish the attackers.

"These criminal acts that are being perpetrated by a misguided faction will be faced with all strength until they are completely uprooted," the crown prince said.

Mr Nayef said: "We advise them to hand themselves over because it is better for them... Everyone must stop this or the hand of justice will reach them."

Coinciding with a visit by a top US official to a city where 50 people died last year in suicide attacks on foreigners, the bomb tore the front off the six-storey administrative block.

Last week, Washington ordered non-essential diplomats out and said other Americans should leave, citing fresh signals of possible attacks on Western interests. The US embassy closed early after yesterday's bombing, a US official said.

Saudi television showed uniformed security force personnel in hospital. "I was in the office when the blast happened. Thank God for everything," said one bloodied and bruised survivor, breaking down in tears as he gave thanks for his escape.

An hour after the powerful explosion two helicopters hovered over the scene. The force of the blast ripped open the front of the building, exposing concrete pillars and metal bars. A quarter of a mile away shop windows were shattered. Fires raged long after the blast, which left a deep crater and a street carpeted in debris. Emergency workers sifted through the rubble where the building had partly collapsed.

Security sources confirmed security personnel were stationed in the building that was targeted, although the Interior Ministry said only that it housed traffic officials. Its statement put no figure on casualties but said they included security forces.