Terror Fears As French Men Shot Dead in Saudi Arabia

The spectre of anti-western terrorist attacks returned to haunt Saudi Arabia yesterday when three French nationals were shot dead in a remote desert area in the north of the country.

Few details were available beyond a brief report on state-run Saudi television which said that some of the victims were Muslims on their way to Medina after performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

If confirmed as the work of jihadist militants this would be the first significant attack on foreigners since 2004, when the campaign launched by al-Qaida to topple the Saudi monarchy was at its height.

Major General Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the interior ministry, said it was too early to determine whether it had been a terrorist incident. Women and children also were with the group, but they were uninjured.

Gen Turki said the group of French travellers was resting on the side of a road when gunmen fired at their car, instantly killing two of the men. The third man died later after he was taken to hospital, and the fourth French man was in a serious condition at an area hospital.

The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, condemned the attack and expressed his sympathy to the family and friends of the victims.

"French authorities are mobilised along with the Saudi authorities, so that light be shed and that those responsible be detained and punished," Mr Douste-Blazy said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, homeland of Osama bin Laden, is said to have made considerable progress in monitoring and tracking down terrorist cells in recent months. Several al-Qaida militants, some thought to have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, have been killed in clashes with the security forces.

Recently, alarm bells rang when al-Qaida issued threats against oil installations in the kingdom.

Riyadh's close ties with the US meant there was little surprise when the first major attack was mounted in May 2003, shortly after the end of the US-led war on Iraq. Suicide bombers attacked housing compounds in Riyadh, killing 35 people and wounding at least 200 others.

In November that year suspected al-Qaida operatives blew up another Riyadh compound killing 18 foreigners and Saudis. In May 2004 22 people, including an American, a Briton and an Italian, died in an attack on oil company and housing compounds in Khobar. Days later gunmen killed Simon Cumbers, an Irish cameraman working for the BBC, and seriously wounded his British colleague Frank Gardner as they filmed in Riyadh.

Later incidents included the beheading of Paul Johnson, an employee of the US defence contractor Lockheed Martin, and the shooting of an Irish engineer working for a Saudi firm. Edward Muirhead-Smith, a British engineer employed by electronics company Marconi, was killed in Riyadh in an attack claimed by al-Qaida.