Americans Targeted Again In Riyadh

An American was shot and killed Saturday in the Saudi capital, the U.S. Embassy and the chief of the Riyadh police said, the third slaying of a Westerner in the kingdom in a week.

Also, a purported al Qaeda statement Saturday claimed the terror group had kidnapped an American man in the Saudi capital and threatened to treat him as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed an American was missing but would not identify him.

"We do have reports of a missing American," an embassy spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are working with local authorities to find him and are in touch with his family."

The al Qaeda statement, posted late Saturday on an Islamic Web site, showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a business card bearing the name Paul M. Johnson.

The statement said the terror group would deal with the hostage just as "the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli also said reports of a missing American were being investigated.

The chief of police in Riyadh said a "resident holding the American nationality" was killed in the capital's Malaz district Saturday afternoon, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

A U.S. Embassy spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We confirm that there was an American killed this evening in Riyadh."

She identified him as Kenneth Scroggs.

Crown Prince Abdullah, greeting visitors in an open gathering, urged his guests to "inform me personally of anyone who has deviated from religion, attacked (it) or is an extremist."

"This is your religious and national duty," said Abdullah, who was shown talking to the visitors on the official Saudi TV.

"I pledge, God willing, ... that they (militants) will not slip away from the hand of justice," Abdullah said.

Among his visitors was Sohag al-Boqmi, the father of Nimr al-Boqmi, the leader of the group that carried out the shooting spree and hostage taking in Khobar on May 29-30, killing 22 people. Al-Boqmi was wounded and captured while the three other militants with him escaped.

Al-Boqmi condemned his son's "criminal act," and stressed that Nimr al-Boqmi represents only himself and not his family or his tribe, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter, in a statement reacting to the shooting death of the American and other recent terrorist attacks, expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

"Those Americans who choose to remain here should exercise the utmost caution as they go about their daily life," Oberwetter said.

"I applaud Saudi Arabia's determination to bring an end to terrorism in the kingdom," he added.

Eyewitnesses told The Associated Press the American man was parking his car in his home's parking garage when three militants shot him in the back, then moved closer to fire more shots from a short distance.

Militant attacks against Westerners, government targets and economic interests have surged in the past two months, despite a high-profile campaign against terrorists the government began after suicide bombings last year.

Speaking in London, Sheik Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al Sheik, the Saudi minister for Islamic affairs, said Saturday that despite the recent surge of attacks, terrorism in his country had not reached crisis proportions.

"If you look back through the efforts of the Saudi government in tackling terrorism, they have destroyed half of the terrorist force," Al Sheik told journalists at the Saudi embassy in London.

"Of course it is a problem but it has not reached a stage of crisis."

He said the attacks had caused little disruption to the Saudi economy or society.

"Our assessment of the situation is that it is controllable, but because there are sleeping cells and because the terrorists live in a crowded area the Saudi forces do not want to hurt any of the local people," he said.

Prince Khaled Al Faisal, the governor of the southwestern region of Asir, wrote about his frustration over the situation in a piece called "Who has taken away the smile" and published in Al Watan daily.

Speaking about how joyless that region has become, the prince said:

"Who has turned school and university courtyards into camps for jihad? Who has turned summer camps into arms training camps? Who has convinced saudi youths that the shortest path to paradise is suicide, the killing of citizens, residents and security agents and the blowing up of residential compounds? Who has done that to us?"

Khaled, who is a brother of Foreign Minister Prince Saud, pleaded with school and university teachers and the clergy to "return the smile, joy and life to our sons, our daughters and our country" by steering them away from extremist thought.

Terror experts have noted that the militants are using several tactics - including shootings and ambushes where the gunmen do not die - rather than limiting themselves to suicide bombings or swift attacks under the cover of darkness.

They are also trying to avoid killing Muslims. The death of several Muslims and Arabs in a November compound attack in Riyadh horrified many Muslims - something that could seriously affect recruiting efforts.

Experts say the terrorists want to create "a psychosis of terror" so foreigners will leave the country, the oil and defense sectors would suffer and the system would weaken.

An estimated 8.8 million foreigners work among 17 million Saudis in the kingdom, mostly in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses.

The series of killings has raised fears that militants are stepping up attacks in Saudi Arabia after a May 29 assault claimed by al Qaeda on a housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar, in which 22 people were killed, most foreign oil workers.

On Tuesday, an American who worked for a U.S. defense contractor was shot and killed. Last Sunday, an Irish cameraman was killed and a British TV correspondent was critically wounded when fired on while filming in a neighborhood that is home to many Islamic militants.

On May 22, a German chef was shot and killed outside a bank in Riyadh.

On May 1, terrorists attacked the offices of an American energy company in the western city of Yanbu, killing six Westerners and a Saudi.

The Saudi government has blamed the attacks on people inspired by, or belonging to, the al Qaeda terror network led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.

The United States has urged all its citizens to leave the kingdom and the British Foreign Office has advised Britons against all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia.