American shot dead in Riyadh

A U.S. national was shot dead in the Saudi capital Riyadh yesterday in the sixth attack on Westerners in six weeks, security and diplomatic sources said.

Separately, police found a car rigged with explosives in a suburb of the capital, Saudi-owned television station Al Arabiya said. It was not immediately clear whether there was any link between the discovery and the late-afternoon shooting.

Witnesses said the American was shot as he parked his car in front of his villa in the suburb of Malazz. "There were bullet holes in the rear window of the car and the driver's window was also shattered," one witness said.

A US embassy spokeswoman said: "The victim is believed to be an American male. There has been a shooting death". Arabiya said police were chasing suspects in the east of the city. A Saudi Interior Ministry statement confirmed the victim was American.

In Washington, the US State Department said the identity of the man was still not known. "We're investigating the circumstances with the Saudis," State Department official Adam Ereli said.

Arabiya gave no details about the discovery of the car bomb, but witnesses saw a car which police were preparing to tow away after cordoning off an area of north Riyadh where an Islamic university is located. Two residential compounds are nearby. Fears about the security situation in the world's biggest oil exporter helped push world oil prices to record highs earlier this month before producers pledged to hike output.

On Tuesday, a US military contractor was shot dead at his house in Riyadh in the fifth attack on Westerners in the kingdom since early May. In one of the biggest attacks, 22 civilians were killed when suspected Al-Qaeda militants took dozens of foreigners hostage in the eastern oil city of Khobar on May 29.

Saudi officials have so far remained silent on what measures they have taken to safeguard foreigners from militant attacks.

The attacks have heightened fears among tens of thousands of expatriates and raised doubts over the grip of security forces. An estimated six million foreigners work in Saudi Arabia, including 35,000 Americans and 30,000 Britons.

Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda has vowed that 2004 would be "bloody and miserable" for the kingdom, a key US ally. Saudi Arabia has been fighting militants for a year, arresting and killing many, including eight on a wanted list of 26 militants. Riyadh says the militants are going for soft targets after the clampdown.