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US-BORN SAUDI DETAINED

Riyadh ...first attack in years. Image: swisshippo/Bigstock.

American shot dead in Saudi capital Riyadh

RIYADH, October 14, 2014

A US national was shot dead and another wounded in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Tuesday, police said, in what appeared to be the first killing of a Westerner in years in a gun attack in the kingdom.

Police later shot and wounded an assailant and then arrested him, said the brief statement, carried by state media.

"The attack resulted in the killing of one person and wounding another and it turned out they were of American citizenship," it said.

The motive behind the attack is not yet known but an investigation is under way, said Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki, adding that the detained assailant was a Saudi man who was born in the US.

Saudi officials have said this year they are concerned about a rise in levels of domestic Islamist militancy due to the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. The government has decreed tough penalties for militant crimes.

Police said Tuesday's attack happened when the two stopped their vehicle at a filling station in an eastern district of the capital. Turki said that a third US national in a different vehicle had witnessed the attack.

The last reported killings of Westerners by armed assailants in Saudi Arabia happened in 2007 when three French nationals were shot dead while camping in the northwest of the country.

A group of men suspected of carrying out that attack and accused of belonging to Al Qaeda are on trial in Riyadh and are awaiting a verdict.

From 2003 to 2006, Al Qaeda carried out a series of attacks on foreign and government targets that killed hundreds before being crushed by the kingdom's security forces.  - Reuters




Tags: Saudi | Riyadh | American |

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