Exodus from Saudi amid fears of more attacks

By JAMES GARDINER

Foreigners in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, have been warned to expect more attacks and many were last night planning to get out.

"The people I've spoken to in our compound, they're all leaving; it's just a case of when they're leaving," said Karen from Auckland, who did not want her surname published.

Her husband, Dave, who works for an American company in Riyadh, said previous tensions in the city had not deterred them because they thought they were safe in their walled compounds.

"Well, that's all changed now."

New evidence emerged in Britain yesterday suggesting that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was behind the bombings and shootings that left up to 90 people dead.

An email sent by one of Osama bin Laden's commanders to the London-based Arab Al-Majalla magazine warned that the organisation had stored arms and explosives and set up "martyrdom squads" in Saudi Arabia.

More details emerged yesterday of the deadly attacks on three compounds on Tuesday morning (NZ time) but there is continuing confusion among the fearful community of up to 100,000 foreign workers and their families in the city.

Saudi authorities put the death toll at 34 from the three separate car bombings and gunfights, but US Vice-President Dick Cheney said it could top 90.

Two of the compounds attacked, Jedawal City and Vinnell, are exclusively for US citizens or employees of US companies.

By contrast, the third compound, al Hamra, where the most devastating attack occurred, has mostly Arab residents.

Misinformation is routine in Saudi Arabia, according to New Zealanders and other foreigners the Herald spoke to in Riyadh.

"This is a test of whether the [Saudi] royal family are in control," said a Swiss man who lives in the Cordoba compound. "And with the attacks coming the night before [US Secretary of State] Colin Powell was due to visit, it doesn't look good."

The attack on al Hamra also damaged Riyadh's British school, which has now closed indefinitely.

Karen, who lives in a compound about 2km from al Hamra, said many of the families, particularly wives and children, had returned only a few weeks ago in time for the start of the school term.

"We can't stay here if the kids can't go to school.

"Last night there was a residents' meeting on our compound and we were told that in the next 24 to 48 hours there is still a likely chance of further attacks. There's not a lot we can do until we get our flights out."

All the residents spoken to were reluctant to have details about themselves published, saying the Saudi authorities could revoke work permits and expel them without reason or warning.

Karen's husband, Dave, said the death toll being reported by Saudi authorities was around 20 until a nurse from one of the Riyadh hospitals rang CNN and said there were 50 dead at her hospital alone.

Dave said the Vinnell compound housed about 500 former US military personnel who trained the Saudi national guard.

Heavy security at the gate included an armoured vehicle, but the attackers broke through after killing up to 15 guards in a five-minute gun battle.

"Most of the people in the building heard the gunfire and got out. They were running all over the place. This very heavily laden truck or suburban just drove straight into the building and detonated and the whole building's devastated but most of the occupants had run out."

He had heard the civilian death toll there was about 10.

"At Jedawal they couldn't penetrate the security at the front gate, so they drove round to the back gate and one of the vehicles apparently took a wrong turn, drove back and hit the other vehicle and the vehicles detonated at the back gate, so they didn't get right in among the housing."

Dave said the big issue for companies based in Saudi now was staff numbers to keep going.

"Companies will be evaluating whether their management are able to stay here because certainly the Western ex-pats who are here now are not comfortable, obviously, and there's no way those companies can get other people to come here.

"It's a big dilemma for the companies. How can you run a business in Saudi Arabia with Western senior management that are not there?"

The Swiss man said many of the people left in Riyadh were "tough" because they had outlasted the September 11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. But he agreed that without the school, women and children would leave and that would put pressure on the men.

Among the dead are Americans, Japanese, Italians, Dutch, a Norwegian and a Spaniard. The injured are believed to top 200. Many are likely to be Arabs from Palestine, Jordan and Syria, who lived in the al Hamra compound.