Al-Qaida blamed for Saudi murder

Suspected al-Qaida killers gunned down a British man in a car park in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, today.

The three gunmen, driving past in a car, shot the man twice in the chest and twice in the head near a shopping centre in a suburb, said security officials

The Saudi Interior Ministry said the man was a British resident of Riyadh and that he was killed in the Max shopping centre’s car park.

The British embassy confirmed his nationality but declined to give his name.

Security officials said the shooting was linked to a wave of anti-Western attacks by supporters of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

In August, an Irish civil engineer was killed by at least one gunman who burst into his office in Riyadh.

In June, Saudi gunmen shot dead an Irish cameraman working for the BBC and critically wounded his British colleague, security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42, as they filmed in a militant area of Riyadh.

The Foreign Office has advised British nationals against all non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia.