Irish engineer shot dead in Saudi capital

AN Irishman was shot dead yesterday at his office in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, the Government confirmed last night.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said Irish Embassy staff in the city were liaising with the Saudi authorities to find out how the attack happened.

It is understood at least one gunman burst into the engineering firm office where the man worked and opened fire with machine guns at around 5pm local time (2pm Irish time).

The family of the man, who is believed to be 63-year-old engineer Tony Christopher, was being notified last night.

An Irish trade official in the Gulf said there are about 1,200 Irish expatriates in the kingdom.

The Riyadh police chief said they were investigating the shooting. He said police received a call saying the man was dead inside his office.

A Saudi official said at least two armed men stormed the office of the Saudi-owned Rocky for Trade and Construction and began shooting. It was the second killing of an Irish national by Saudi militants in two months.

BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers, 36, originally from Navan, Co Meath, was shot and killed while filming a militant's family home in Riyadh on June 6. His colleague Frank Gardner was critically wounded in that attack.

Westerners have been the targets of shootings, suicide bombings and kidnappings in the kingdom in recent months. The attacks are seen as an attempt to undermine the economy, which depends heavily on expatriate labour.

The last terror attack against a Westerner was the kidnapping of American engineer Paul Johnson on June 12 and his beheading six days later. Two other Americans, as well as Cumbers, were killed in the kingdom in the week before Mr Johnson's kidnapping.

The wave of violence in Saudi Arabia began May 12, 2003, when car bombs targeted three compounds housing foreign workers, killing 35 people, including nine suicide bombers.

Since then, the kingdom has suffered a series of suicide bombings, gun battles and kidnappings.

The attacks have been blamed on groups allied to al-Qaida, the terror group led by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaida wants to topple the Saudi royal family and replace it with an Islamic government.

Saudi Arabia has said militants are going after individuals and soft targets because of the tough security clampdown over the last year.

On June 23, King Fahd offered a pardon to suspected militants who turn themselves in within a month, but only six came forward.

Just one of those figured on a 26-strong most-wanted list issued by the kingdom in December. Twelve militants on the list remain at large, while the others have either been killed in clashes with security forces or surrendered.