RIYADH (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed 10 Americans and many others at housing compounds for Westerners in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said as he flew in for a planned visit on Tuesday.
Powell said the massive car bomb attacks in the birthplace of Islam bore the stamp of al Qaeda and its Saudi-born leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). They came just two weeks after Washington announced it was pulling out troops from the kingdom following the defeat of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in neighboring Iraq (news - web sites).
"It seems we have lost 10 Americans killed," Powell told reporters shortly after arriving at Riyadh airport from Jordan.
"Many other nationalities were also killed."
Other officials said at least 160 people were wounded, including 40 Americans, when cars packed with explosives were driven past armed guards at three compounds before midnight. They left a trail of rubble and mangled vehicles in their wake.
There had been warnings of new attacks on Westerners in the kingdom. Al Qaeda, blamed by Washington for the September 11 attacks, has been accused of previous bombings in pursuit of demands that non-Muslim American troops leave Saudi soil.
"Terrorism is the number-one priority of all of us and we will not rest until we have dealt with this threat to all of us," Powell said after flying in on a scheduled stop on a postwar tour of the Middle East.
"We will commit ourselves again to redouble our efforts to work closely with our Saudi friends and friends all around the world to go after al Qaeda, to go after terrorism."
AL QAEDA LINK?
Cars packed with explosives were driven into three compounds housing Westerners, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said. He told Al Riyadh daily that the attacks were suicide bombings.
Australia said one of its citizens was also killed.
Prince Nayef linked the blasts to a fugitive group of 19 suspected al Qaeda sympathizers, mainly Saudis, who disappeared in the Saudi capital on May 6. The Interior Ministry said police had also found a huge cache of explosives, hand grenades, ammunition and machineguns.
A senior State Department official said Powell, on a Middle East tour to promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, would be briefed about the attacks at the U.S. embassy in Riyadh.
The official said Powell, who was due to hold talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, had scrapped a scheduled roundtable discussion with a group of Saudis businessmen and youth "because all minds are focused on the terrorist attack."
DEVASTATION AND DEBRIS
A U.S. official who declined to be identified said there had been at least four bombs. Witnesses earlier said they had heard three blasts, which sent fire balls into the night sky above the Gharnata, Ishbiliya and Cordoba compounds. The official's count included a housing compound for a joint Western-Saudi company.
Cars and pickup trucks, badly twisted and still smoldering, littered the three compounds which housed villas and four-storey blocks.
Many balconies were blown off, their truncated steel girders jutting out. The bombs gouged massive holes in walls and brought down roofs.
A clock in a large hall inside one building had stopped at 11:28, the time on Monday night when most witnesses said they had heard the apparently simultaneous explosions.
A European resident of one of the targeted compounds, identified as Nick, said the explosion occurred shortly before midnight and was so powerful it blew out windows and doors.
"We were sleeping when we were woken up by the sound of gunfire," he told the Arab News newspaper. "Moments later, a loud explosion was heard followed by another bigger explosion."
One Australian woman, identified as Helen, told CNN television trucks had rammed into gates at her walled and heavily guarded villa compound and exploded after an exchange of gunfire, shaking her sturdy villa like a cardboard box.
Suspected militant Islamists have twice launched major attacks on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia since the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) to eject Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait. Americans and other foreign nationals also have been killed in several smaller incidents in the kingdom over the same period.
On May 1, the United States renewed a warning for citizens to avoid travel to Saudi Arabia. One official said intelligence agencies had credible information about a possible al Qaeda plot to strike American targets there. The same day, a gunman wounded a U.S. civilian at a naval base in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has charged 90 Saudis with belonging to al Qaeda and is interrogating another 250. (Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond in Dubai
Powell said the massive car bomb attacks in the birthplace of Islam bore the stamp of al Qaeda and its Saudi-born leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). They came just two weeks after Washington announced it was pulling out troops from the kingdom following the defeat of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in neighboring Iraq (news - web sites).
"It seems we have lost 10 Americans killed," Powell told reporters shortly after arriving at Riyadh airport from Jordan.
"Many other nationalities were also killed."
Other officials said at least 160 people were wounded, including 40 Americans, when cars packed with explosives were driven past armed guards at three compounds before midnight. They left a trail of rubble and mangled vehicles in their wake.
There had been warnings of new attacks on Westerners in the kingdom. Al Qaeda, blamed by Washington for the September 11 attacks, has been accused of previous bombings in pursuit of demands that non-Muslim American troops leave Saudi soil.
"Terrorism is the number-one priority of all of us and we will not rest until we have dealt with this threat to all of us," Powell said after flying in on a scheduled stop on a postwar tour of the Middle East.
"We will commit ourselves again to redouble our efforts to work closely with our Saudi friends and friends all around the world to go after al Qaeda, to go after terrorism."
AL QAEDA LINK?
Cars packed with explosives were driven into three compounds housing Westerners, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said. He told Al Riyadh daily that the attacks were suicide bombings.
Australia said one of its citizens was also killed.
Prince Nayef linked the blasts to a fugitive group of 19 suspected al Qaeda sympathizers, mainly Saudis, who disappeared in the Saudi capital on May 6. The Interior Ministry said police had also found a huge cache of explosives, hand grenades, ammunition and machineguns.
A senior State Department official said Powell, on a Middle East tour to promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, would be briefed about the attacks at the U.S. embassy in Riyadh.
The official said Powell, who was due to hold talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, had scrapped a scheduled roundtable discussion with a group of Saudis businessmen and youth "because all minds are focused on the terrorist attack."
DEVASTATION AND DEBRIS
A U.S. official who declined to be identified said there had been at least four bombs. Witnesses earlier said they had heard three blasts, which sent fire balls into the night sky above the Gharnata, Ishbiliya and Cordoba compounds. The official's count included a housing compound for a joint Western-Saudi company.
Cars and pickup trucks, badly twisted and still smoldering, littered the three compounds which housed villas and four-storey blocks.
Many balconies were blown off, their truncated steel girders jutting out. The bombs gouged massive holes in walls and brought down roofs.
A clock in a large hall inside one building had stopped at 11:28, the time on Monday night when most witnesses said they had heard the apparently simultaneous explosions.
A European resident of one of the targeted compounds, identified as Nick, said the explosion occurred shortly before midnight and was so powerful it blew out windows and doors.
"We were sleeping when we were woken up by the sound of gunfire," he told the Arab News newspaper. "Moments later, a loud explosion was heard followed by another bigger explosion."
One Australian woman, identified as Helen, told CNN television trucks had rammed into gates at her walled and heavily guarded villa compound and exploded after an exchange of gunfire, shaking her sturdy villa like a cardboard box.
Suspected militant Islamists have twice launched major attacks on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia since the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) to eject Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait. Americans and other foreign nationals also have been killed in several smaller incidents in the kingdom over the same period.
On May 1, the United States renewed a warning for citizens to avoid travel to Saudi Arabia. One official said intelligence agencies had credible information about a possible al Qaeda plot to strike American targets there. The same day, a gunman wounded a U.S. civilian at a naval base in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has charged 90 Saudis with belonging to al Qaeda and is interrogating another 250. (Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond in Dubai
