Al-Qaeda escalated its campaign against Saudi Arabia and Westerners in the kingdom by killing one American and kidnapping another to avenge US mistreatment of Muslim prisoners, an Islamist Web site said yesterday.
Saturday's attacks, the sixth on Westerners in six weeks, sent shockwaves among tens of thousands of expatriates in the world's largest oil exporter, prompting fears of mass exodus.
The Web site that carried the claim also posted a video showing the purported killing of another American in the capital, Riyadh, earlier in the week.
Witnesses said American Kenneth Scroggs, who worked for Advanced Electronics Co, which manufactures military and commercial electronic products, was shot dead on Saturday as he parked his car in front of his villa in a Riyadh suburb.
The company, owned by the Saudi government and Gulf Arab firms, declined comment when contacted.
It was not immediately known if the latest escalation would prompt companies to pull out. Many Western firms have already evacuated families and non-essential staff. Some have decided to repatriate Western staff to neighboring Bahrain.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the slaying in a statement on the Sawt al Jihad Web site. It said the American seized at the same time was Paul Marshal Johnson, a 49-year-old New Jersey engineer specializing in Apache helicopters.
The Interior Ministry said the American had gone missing after he left his office and that his car was found in Riyadh.
Al-Qaeda branded him "an American Christian parasite" and said it would soon release a video of the captive, whose business card displayed on the Web site showed he worked for Lockheed Martin as a site manager and systems engineer.
"The mujahideen were able in the same operation to kill another American working as a manager in the military sector. They stalked him and then they killed him in his home," it said.
"[We] reserve the legitimate right to deal with the Americans in the same way to avenge what the Americans did to our brothers in [Baghdad's] Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo."
The US embassy confirmed one American was shot dead in Riyadh on Saturday and that another was missing.
"We are working with local authorities to find him," a spokeswoman said.
In April, European embassies cited a Saudi security document as warning that militants could attempt to attack senior Saudi officials and kidnap or kill Westerners.
Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda has vowed that this year would be "bloody and miserable" for the kingdom, a key US ally.
Fears about Saudi security helped push world oil prices to record highs this month before producers pledged to hike output.
Police found a car rigged with explosives in a suburb near foreigners' housing, Al Arabiya television said on Saturday. It was unclear if the incidents were linked.
Saturday's attack came after militants killed 22 people in a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the oil city of Khobar late last month.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed US military contractor Robert Jacobs, whose death was purportedly shown in the online video. It showed a man, who appeared to be a Westerner, fall to the ground as two men holding guns run toward him.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS