Bombing in Riyadh: US staff ordered to stay in homes

By: Nabil Raza/ Rafiullah

WASHINGTON: The United States has issued orders to its diplomatic staff plus their families in Saudi Arabia to stay in their homes and not to leave the area of Riyadh where embassies are located after the capital was rocked by powerful car bomb attacks on Sunday.

The State Department said: “In addition, embassy personnel and their dependants are restricting their movements and will remain in the Diplomatic Quarter pending further assessment of the security situation.”

The bomb attack on the Muhaya residential compound housing foreigners in west Riyadh which left up to 30 people dead injuring nearly 100, happened a day after the United States warned of terrorist raids and shut its missions in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi television correspondent said witnesses told him two cars drove into the compound and exploded inside.

According to one Saudi source no Westerners were among the casualties in the attack. One resident of the compound said most of the residents were Lebanese, Egyptians and Syrians. A US State Department spokeswoman in Washington said: “It appears that no US diplomats live at the compounds.”

END