A BBC cameraman was shot dead and a fellow journalist wounded in Riyadh on Sunday, the latest in a string of terror attacks by suspected Islamist extremists increasingly targeting Westerners in Saudi Arabia.
Barely a week after gunmen killed 22 people, including several Westerners, in a shooting rampage and hostage-taking drama in the eastern oil city of Al-Khobar, the Irish cameraman and British journalist came under fire in the Al-Suwaidi district in Riyadh near the home of a top wanted militant.
PHOTO: AFP
The BBC confirmed in London late on Sunday that cameraman Simon Cumbers, 36, was killed while security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42, was injured and was being treated in hospital in the Saudi capital.
Gardner "is a leading expert on Al-Qaeda and works full-time reporting on the war on terror," the BBC said in a statement.
Al-Qaeda sympathizers are blamed for the terror campaign which has killed more than 85 people and injured hundreds in Saudi Arabia since May last year.
Cumbers was "a freelance journalist and cameraman who has worked throughout the world filming international news stories for the BBC and for news organizations such as Associated Press Television and ITN," the BBC said.
Hospital sources here said Gardner was out of danger after undergoing surgery at Al-Iman hospital. They said he would be moved to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the capital.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the attack and expressed admiration for Gardner.
"I utterly condemn the attack on BBC journalists in Riyadh today," Straw said in a statement. "I extend my sympathy to the family of the cameraman who was killed and my thoughts are with Frank Gardner, his family, colleagues and friends."
He added: "We will continue to do all we can to support the Saudi authorities in their fight against terrorism."
Gardner, a fluent Arabic speaker with a degree in Arab and Islamic Studies, was reported to be carrying a small copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, in his pocket when he and his colleague came under fire near the home of Ibrahim al-Rayyes, a terror suspect killed in a clash with security forces in the area last December.
Rayyes was on a list of 26 most-wanted suspects which has gone down to 18 since it was issued by authorities in December.
Despite the security forces' relentless hunt for terror suspects, presumed Al-Qaeda sympathizers blamed for a series of suicide bombings in Riyadh last year have escalated attacks since April, bombing a security forces building in the capital before expanding their scope of operations to target both Westerners and oil-related facilities in various parts of the vast kingdom.
Last weekend, four Westerners -- an American, a Briton, an Italian and a Swede -- were among the 22 people killed in the Al-Khobar carnage.
On Wednesday, one American serviceman was slightly injured when shots were fired at two vehicles carrying two US military personnel who help train the Saudi National Guard as they drove along a highway outside the Saudi capital, according to the US embassy in Riyadh.
Statements attributed to Al-Qaeda and affiliates, sent by e-mail or posted on Islamist Web sites, have claimed responsibility for the latest attacks.
On Friday, a statement attributed to Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who is alleged to be Al-Qaeda's chief in Saudi Arabia and tops the most-wanted list, hailed the recent spike in oil prices that was partly caused by the attacks in the oil-rich kingdom and took pride in the killing of "all infidel hostages" during the Al-Khobar carnage.
Three of the Al-Khobar killers escaped, while a fourth was wounded and captured, according to Saudi authorities.
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