Al-Qaida link in Irish engineer's death

Militants linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network have claimed responsibility for killing an Irish engineer earlier this month, according to a statement posted on the internet.

The statement, which appeared on the Voice of Jihad Internet periodical of the al-Qaida network in Saudi Arabia, said “one of the mujahedeen (holy fighters) brigades killed an Irish engineer at his workplace in Riyadh”.

Armed men killed Anthony Christopher Higgins, 63, on August 3 after storming into his Riyadh office firing machine guns.

The authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified.

It was the second killing of an Irishman in the Saudi capital in two months. Simon Cumbers, 36, a BBC cameraman from Navan, was shot and killed while filming in Riyadh on June 6.

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

Following attacks on residential compounds housing foreigners, Saudi authorities released a list of 26 most wanted terrorists and began hunting them and other militants down, killing and capturing many.