Three Britons injured by Riyadh car bomb

Three Britons were injured in an explosion that blew up their car in Riyadh on Wednesday night, the second attack on Britons in the capital in five days.

No one has claimed responsibility for either attack. While Saudi officials say they believe the incidents are personal rather than politically motivated, a Riyadh-based British diplomat told Gulf News yesterday that "terrorists now target the Britons. We (British citizens) have lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 years and nothing like this happened before."

Last Friday British engineer Christopher Rodway was killed and his wife Jane was injured by a car bomb. On October 13, a bomb was also lobbed at the British embassy in neighbouring Yemen, a day after an apparent suicide bombing crippled a U.S. destroyer in Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors. The blasts come at a time of growing anti-Western sentiment in the Arab world over perceived Western support of Israel in two months Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

The three Britons in Wednesday's attack suffered minor injuries, an embassy spokeswoman told Reuters. She declined to name them or comment on what the motive for the attacks might be, but said the embassy was working with Saudi authorities to investigate the explosion.

The two men and one woman are employed by Al Salam Aircraft Co, a Saudi firm, of which 50 per cent is owned by U.S. aircraft giant Boeing, said a London-based authoritative source who did not want to be identified in London.

Saudi Arabia's Okaz newspaper said the car had been driving along Riyadh's King Abdulaziz street when it blew up. Another local paper, Al Eqtisadiah, published a photograph of the four-wheel-drive car with the front totally blown out.

Okaz quoted Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz as saying one man was in hospital with leg wounds, while the other man and the woman had been treated for minor injuries and discharged.

He told the paper that he did not rule out personal motives for the attack. "Security authorities have started their investigation to reveal the details of the case and to investigate any link to the previous incident, especially since circumstances were similar and so were the nationalities," Prince Ahmed said.

The embassy said that once it received more information it would update a security advisory to the 26,000 British citizens living in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking to Gulf News on condition of anonymity, the British diplomat said the the increased alert among the Americans in the Gulf "has made the terrorists aim their attacks against Britons."

He also dismissed Saudi statements that personal motives were behind the the two recent attacks. "Having a similar attack (Wednesday's) within a few days makes us suspect this (statement)," the diplomat said.

He also added that all Britons working in security or military related jobs will "immediately" be put under protection at their houses, in the offices and during their movements. He did not elaborate on how this protection would be provided.