SOS
11-08-2003, 06:27 PM
Article (http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-saudi-explosion,0,562813.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines)
This is shocking is it?
By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer
November 8, 2003, 5:40 PM EST
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Three explosions rocked a residential compound in western Riyadh around midnight Saturday, and smoke could be seen rising from the area of the blast.
Diplomats reported one big explosion, followed by two smaller ones 15 seconds apart. The streets were crowded with late night crowds because of Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast during the day.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said the attack targeted the B2 compound, which is in the Nakheel neighborhood near the Muhaya shopping center. It's a residential area, with mainly Saudis and other Arabs with a few foreigners.
Dozens of police cars and ambulances raced toward the direction of the blasts, sirens wailing, and helicopters hovered overhead. Traffic was tied up across the city.
Rabie Hadeka, a resident inside the targeted compound, told the Al-Arabiya television network that "about 20 to 30 people have been killed and 50 to 60 injured."
She told Al-Arabiya that "shattered glass was spread everywhere after we heard three very strong explosions."
Hadeka provided no details on those who he said were killed. The U.S. Embassy official said all embassy personnel were accounted for.
American diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia were closed Saturday after the embassy issued a warning Friday that terror attacks could be imminent in the tense Gulf kingdom.
Police said the explosions were three miles from one of the entrances to the diplomatic quarter.
Ali Aiban, a Saudi businessman, said he was shopping at the mall when "I heard an explosion that felt like an earthquake."
He rushed to the car to make sure his family was OK and then followed police cars and saw them closing one of the two entrances of the diplomatic quarter. He said there were about 50 police cars.
From his home he said he could see smoke like a "huge fog" from the residential compound.
The Al-Jazeera satellite TV station reported a shootout occurred in the compound where the explosion occurred. An Al-Jazeera correspondent, reporting from the scene of the explosion, said there was a large fire in the compound, where he heard three blasts.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent said the compound houses foreigners from various countries, and said security forces have blocked off the area surrounding the compound, preventing people from entering.
"We heard a very strong explosion and we saw the fire," Bassem al-Hourani, who said he was a resident at the targeted compound, told Al-Arabiya in a telephone interview.
"I heard screams of the children and women. I don't know what happened to my friends if anybody was injured," he said. "All the glass in my house were shattered."
Almost all the foreign embassies in Riyadh -- including the U.S. Embassy -- and most diplomats' homes are inside the diplomatic quarter, an isolated neighborhood whose entrances are guarded. But there are several residential compounds housing Western business people relatively near the diplomatic quarter.
A western diplomat said he got a call from a friend who reported seeing smoke rising from a building on the other side of the diplomatic quarter near an area where the palaces of the royal family's senior princes are located.
The city's main palaces, including those of senior princes and the king's sprawling Riyadh residence, are just outside the east side of the diplomatic quarter. Each of the palaces is behind a high wall, with automatic gates for cars to drive through, and guards.
A May attack on western residential compounds in Riyadh killed 35 people, including the nine attackers. Since then, Saudi authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected militants throughout the country.
This is shocking is it?
By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer
November 8, 2003, 5:40 PM EST
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Three explosions rocked a residential compound in western Riyadh around midnight Saturday, and smoke could be seen rising from the area of the blast.
Diplomats reported one big explosion, followed by two smaller ones 15 seconds apart. The streets were crowded with late night crowds because of Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast during the day.
A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said the attack targeted the B2 compound, which is in the Nakheel neighborhood near the Muhaya shopping center. It's a residential area, with mainly Saudis and other Arabs with a few foreigners.
Dozens of police cars and ambulances raced toward the direction of the blasts, sirens wailing, and helicopters hovered overhead. Traffic was tied up across the city.
Rabie Hadeka, a resident inside the targeted compound, told the Al-Arabiya television network that "about 20 to 30 people have been killed and 50 to 60 injured."
She told Al-Arabiya that "shattered glass was spread everywhere after we heard three very strong explosions."
Hadeka provided no details on those who he said were killed. The U.S. Embassy official said all embassy personnel were accounted for.
American diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia were closed Saturday after the embassy issued a warning Friday that terror attacks could be imminent in the tense Gulf kingdom.
Police said the explosions were three miles from one of the entrances to the diplomatic quarter.
Ali Aiban, a Saudi businessman, said he was shopping at the mall when "I heard an explosion that felt like an earthquake."
He rushed to the car to make sure his family was OK and then followed police cars and saw them closing one of the two entrances of the diplomatic quarter. He said there were about 50 police cars.
From his home he said he could see smoke like a "huge fog" from the residential compound.
The Al-Jazeera satellite TV station reported a shootout occurred in the compound where the explosion occurred. An Al-Jazeera correspondent, reporting from the scene of the explosion, said there was a large fire in the compound, where he heard three blasts.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent said the compound houses foreigners from various countries, and said security forces have blocked off the area surrounding the compound, preventing people from entering.
"We heard a very strong explosion and we saw the fire," Bassem al-Hourani, who said he was a resident at the targeted compound, told Al-Arabiya in a telephone interview.
"I heard screams of the children and women. I don't know what happened to my friends if anybody was injured," he said. "All the glass in my house were shattered."
Almost all the foreign embassies in Riyadh -- including the U.S. Embassy -- and most diplomats' homes are inside the diplomatic quarter, an isolated neighborhood whose entrances are guarded. But there are several residential compounds housing Western business people relatively near the diplomatic quarter.
A western diplomat said he got a call from a friend who reported seeing smoke rising from a building on the other side of the diplomatic quarter near an area where the palaces of the royal family's senior princes are located.
The city's main palaces, including those of senior princes and the king's sprawling Riyadh residence, are just outside the east side of the diplomatic quarter. Each of the palaces is behind a high wall, with automatic gates for cars to drive through, and guards.
A May attack on western residential compounds in Riyadh killed 35 people, including the nine attackers. Since then, Saudi authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected militants throughout the country.