Letter from Dhahran: Western expats increasingly worried

While the authorities in the Kingdom are still grappling with the issue of getting to know the exact number of casualties in the Al Mohayya compound bombings early Sunday morning, and its long term consequences, Western expatriates in Riyadh and elsewhere in the Kingdom are getting increasingly itchy on the turn of events.

The US embassy in Riyadh has advised its citizens in the Kingdom to "currently remain closed to public". The embassy personnel, employees and their dependents have been advised to restrict their movements and stay confined to diplomatic quarters in Riyadh.

Due to the closure of the US embassy in Riyadh, no one was available to answer the calls and comment on the situation.

The British embassy has slightly updated its November 6 advisory, asking its citizens to be extra vigilant. According to Nick Abbott, the press officer at the British Embassy, there were three British citizens in the area at the time of attack. All of them are safe, he assured.

Once the situation stabilises, the British embassy staff will meet the British community in the Kingdom to discuss, deliberate and then decide its course of action in the wake of the Al Mohayya bombings. It is difficult to prejudge the reaction of the British community at this stage.

When questioned over whether British citizens in the Kingdom would be tempted to send their families back home now, Abbott said: "It's too early to gauge their reaction. However, last time after the May 12 Riyadh bombings many British expatriates decided to send their families back home."

There were four to five Pakistani families living in the compound. A Pakistani mission official Pervez Junejo confirmed that no Pakistani was killed or injured in the attack.

Many western expatriates preferred to stay back home Sunday. At a major car company in Riyadh, three of its western employees did not turn up in the office, to resume their work Sunday. "They are simply horrified at the turn of the events," said a colleague of these employees.

Even the attendance at the Western schools was thin. The parent was also worried about the fate of the British and American schools in the Kingdom.

A British Aerospace employee confided: "It is indeed very, very worrying. It's too early to gauge the reaction of the people here working for the company, yet many amongst us feel exposed to any such eventuality."