Qatar Blast Kills Briton

A British man was killed and 12 people were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded outside a theatre in Qatar where a 100-strong audience was watching a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

The mostly British Doha Players Theatre cast was coming to the end of the play when the bomb went off. Nearby cars were smashed and some burst into flames.

The Qatar Interior Ministry said a car bomb caused the explosion, and an investigation was under way. The name of the dead man was not released last night.

Eric Mattey, a spokesman for the British embassy in Doha, said a number of people outside the theatre were injured by flying glass.

'I saw people lying on the ground. I think they were in shock because of the explosion. They were mostly foreigners,' said witness Ahmed Goudah.

The theatre is in Farek Kelab, a northern suburb of the capital. A British school and the US Embassy are in the same area. Windows of the school and other nearby buildings were shattered.

Firefighters and emergency vehicles converged on the area, which was sealed off by police as investigators and sniffer dogs fanned out across the area.

Brigadier General Ahmad al-Hayki of the Interior Ministry told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television the blast had struck the theatre cafeteria, and that most of the wounded were Qataris, other Arabs and Asians.

Al-Qaeda militants have staged attacks in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but Qatar, a key US ally, has seen no Islamist violence and prides itself on its security. Qatar hosts the US military's Central Command, and two years ago was a launch pad for the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Most of the theatre's members are from the UK, although other nationalities are represented, according to the Doha Players' website.