Al Qaeda escalates anti-Western attacks in Saudi

Saudi and US authorities are working closely to locate an American engineer who al Qaeda said it had kidnapped after it killed another US national in the capital Riyadh, security sources said yesterday.

The kidnapping added a new twist to al Qaeda's campaign to drive western "infidels" from the kingdom and oust the Saudi royal family who they deem "ungodly and subservient to America".

Riyadh's police chief denied reports that a body of westerner had been found in the streets of the capital. Earlier yesterday, diplomats and security sources said a body, thought to be that of a Westerner, had been found dumped near a building.

Saudi and US authorities are still trying to locate US engineer, Paul Johnson, 45, who al Qaeda claimed it had kidnapped on Saturday. "We are working with local authorities to find him," a US embassy spokeswoman said.

Saturday's killing of a US national, the sixth attack on westerners in six weeks, rattled tens of thousands of expatriates in the world's largest oil exporter, prompting fears of mass exodus.

Police, hunting for militants, said they sealed off two areas in Riyadh and arrested two suspects. It was not immediately clear whether the action was linked to the killing and kidnapping.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday cited a worsening security situation in Saudi Arabia and said the United States was determined to do all it could to defeat "terrorists".

"Clearly this is a dangerous time for Saudi Arabia and we're working with them and cooperating with them in every way we can to defeat these terrorists," Mr Powell told NBC. "It's not unravelling, but it's certainly a dangerous situation."

Powell told Fox News that Riyadh could do more to combat the attacks, though he was satisfied with their efforts so far.

"The Saudis now know that they have a very serious problem within the kingdom and they know that it is going to require all their resources," Mr Powell said.

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for kidnapping Johnson and killing American Kenneth Scroggs on Saturday in a statement on an Islamist Web site. Witnesses said Scroggs, who worked for Advanced Electronics Co., was shot as he parked his car in front of his villa in a Riyadh suburb.

Britain said yesterday it had authorised non-essential staff at the British embassy and their relatives to leave the country if they wished. The United States has urged its citizens to leave. Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, has vowed 2004 would be "bloody and miserable" for the kingdom, a key US ally.

Fears about Saudi security helped push world oil prices to record highs this month before producers pledged to hike output.

Al Qaeda said Saturday's killing and kidnapping were to avenge US mistreatment of Muslim prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Expatriates are concerned that the assaults are increasing in momentum and that militants are escaping unharmed from Saudi security forces. So far, none of the militants responsible for the latest attacks have been arrested.

But Saudi analysts said the government must improve intelligence rather than carry out a random military crackdown.

"These groups are divided into small cells which are spread out. The only way to know when they are going to hit next is to penetrate them. You cannot guard the entire kingdom so it is a matter of intelligence," Khalid al-Dakheel told Reuters.

The website that carried the kidnapping claim also posted a video showing the purported killing of another American, military contractor Robert Jacobs, in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The latest attacks came two weeks after 22 people were killed in shootings and hostage-taking in the oil city of Khobar. Last week, a BBC cameraman was killed and a correspondent wounded in a drive-by shooting in Riyadh.