British Aviation Worker Slain in Saudi Arabia; Suspect Is Arrested
A British motorist waiting at a traffic light was shot and killed Thursday, and a Saudi citizen was arrested, the Interior Ministry said.
The victim, an employee of the British aviation and aerospace firm BAE Systems, died immediately, the ministry said.
BAE identified the victim as Robert Denith, 37. Saudi security officials said the shooter was Saud bin Ali bin Nasser, 30.
“We don’t know what the motive is. The Saudi authorities are dealing with it,” BAE spokesman Walid Abukhaled said.
Western diplomats suspect that groups sympathetic to Osama bin Laden are behind a string of attacks in Saudi Arabia since late 2000. The government blames gangs fighting over the illegal liquor trade.
Bin Laden, whose Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994, calls for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family and demands that U.S. troops leave the country, which was home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.
In the most recent previous attack on a foreigner, gunmen fired on the car of a British man, also a BAE employee, in Riyadh on Feb. 5. He was injured.
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