American shot dead in Saudi attack

The killing and apparent abduction were the latest attacks in a campaign of anti-Western violence in the kingdom, believed by many to be aimed at driving out foreigners as a way to sabotage the vital Saudi oil sector.

The US Embassy identified the dead man as Kenneth Scroggs. It did not identify the missing American but said it was working with Saudi officials to find him.

Scroggs was the third Westerner killed in the kingdom in a week. Several Islamic websites on Saturday carried links to a videotape – also purportedly from al-Qaida – that claims to show the killing of American Robert Jacobs, who was shot at his Riyadh home on Tuesday.

In Scroggs’ neighbourhood, the Malaz district of Riyadh, witnesses said that three militants first shot him in the back as he pulled his car into the garage. The militants then moved closer and fired more shots.

In the kidnapping claim, the al-0aida statement showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a Lockheed Martin business card bearing the name Paul M. Johnson. It said he was born in 1955.

The mobile phone listed on the card was switched off, and a call to a second phone number was picked up by a voicemail message by a man who identified himself as Paul Johnson.

The statement said the terror group would deal with Johnson just as “the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib” – a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses of Iraqi and Muslim prisoners by US troops.

The statement also said Johnson is one of four experts in Saudi Arabia working on developing Apache helicopter systems and that the American killed worked in the same industry.

“Everybody knows that these helicopters are used by the Americans, their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims, terrorising them and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq,” said the statement.

It said al-Qaida would release a videotape later to show Johnson’s confessions and list its demands.

A Lockheed Martin spokesman confirmed that Johnson was a Lockheed employee but declined to say what his job was. The spokesman also said Lockheed Martin was not aware of any employees who had been killed in Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi security source said that Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose website lists Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on Johnson’s business card was for Advanced Electronics.

The videotape that claims to show the “beheading of a Jewish American, Robert Jacobs” was attributed to the same group.

Jacobs, 62, of Murphysboro, Illinois, worked for US defence contractor Vinnell Corp.

A colleague found Jacobs shot in his home on Tuesday. There were no reports at the time that his killers attempted to behead him. There was no way to confirm the authenticity of the statements or the video.

An estimated 8.8 million foreigners work among 17 million Saudis in the kingdom, mostly in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses.

Militant attacks against Westerners, government targets and economic interests in the Saudi kingdom have surged in the past two months, despite a high-profile campaign against terrorists the government began after suicide bombings last year.

US Ambassador James C. Oberwetter, in a statement reacting to Saturday’s killing and other recent terrorist attacks, expressed his condolences to victim’s families.

“Those Americans who choose to remain here should exercise the utmost caution as they go about their daily life,” Oberwetter said.

“I applaud Saudi Arabia’s determination to bring an end to terrorism in the kingdom,” he added.

Last Sunday, an Irish cameraman was killed and a British TV correspondent was critically wounded when fired on while filming in a neighbourhood that is home to many Islamic militants.

The United States has urged all its citizens to leave the kingdom, and the British Foreign Office has advised Britons against all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia.