very worrying

“My best bud and hiking partner is working there for BAe now - trying to track down family

Briton killed in Saudi Arabia



A British man has been killed in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Saudi television said the Briton, who worked for British aviation company BAE Systems in the kingdom and was a resident there, was attacked as he sat in his car at traffic lights.

His alleged attacker was arrested and has been identified as Saud bin Ali bin Nasser, 30, a Saudi of Yemeni origin working for a car dealership.


The killing comes a day after the British Government warned its nationals to leave Iraq immediately, and to avoid all but essential travel to Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The attack comes after a string of violent incidents involving British nationals in the kingdom, the last one being a car bomb which killed a Briton in June 2002.

The Saudi authorities blamed those incidents on an illegal alcohol racket and has arrested several Britons in connection with the attacks.

Motive unknown

Thursday's attack took place between 1600 and 1800 local time (1300 and 1500 GMT) on Khaled bin al-Walid Street in the Granada district of Riyadh.

The motive for the killing remains unclear.

It has also emerged that there have been in the last three weeks two other attempted shootings against BAE personnel in Riyadh, both unsuccessful, says the BBC Kuwait correspondent Paul Adams.

Westerners have also been killed in neighbouring Kuwait in recent months.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are home to thousands of US troops, who are likely to take part in a possible war on Iraq.”

“I hope it's not your friend, ynami...”

“oh no, ynami!! i hope it's not too! you must be feeling sick right now...i hope you can talk to his family soon.”

“ynami, my thoughts are with you as you wait for news....”

“His family phone was off the hook -but I managed to track down someone in a newsroom who gave me the name and it's not him. Thanks for your concern bit. He sent me an e-mail about a week ago saying how concerned they all were and how the company was sending them to some dangerous parts of town - even after one guy got his car shot up previously”

“Glad it's not him... I can imagine that was very scary.”

“Ditto here. You had reason for concern. That country would make me nervous too...”

“thank guys :o)

we have a meeting
today and will voice our concerns about prospective teaching courses that
will involve us going to unsavoury parts of the city to teach in the
evenings, with a routine that could make us a target.”

“I'm happy for you and your friend, ynami.

Saudi Arabia is a dangerous place to be right now, and not just from their religious fundamentalists. It's not uncommon for the Saudi authorities to round up a few associates of someone who's been killed by a bomb, and charge them with the crime, saying they were part of an "illegal alcohol smuggling ring" when they know good and well that the bomb was planted by extremists who want to kill Westerners.

You couldn't pay me enough money to work there right now.”

“That illegal alcohol ring sounds fishy to me too. A friend of mine worked in SA for a couple of years and his office building had a still in it. He said it was pretty common.”

“I know - I've talked to him about the bombings before.
Another teeling quote from the e-mail is -
"So the company has to be trusted to make the right decisions - something I don't trust then with"”