Toll Rises in Saudi Attacks

The U.S. State Department announced Sunday that a ninth American had died from injuries suffered in bombings at three Riyadh residential compounds, as FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III visited Saudi Arabia to praise its cooperation in the investigation.

No personal details on the latest American casualty were released, at the family’s request. About 35 people are reported to have been killed, including nine bombers.

“I think we assume that, yes, there are ties to Al Qaeda” in the bombings, Mueller said during a press conference. “I don’t want to get into the details because the investigations are ongoing, but clearly this type of undertaking has all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda operation.”

A U.S. diplomat said Mueller planned to stay in Saudi Arabia through today. Moroccan officials in Rabat said the FBI chief is also expected to travel to Morocco within days for talks with King Mohammed VI.

Four days after the Riyadh attacks, the Moroccan city of Casablanca was rocked by nearly simultaneous bombings that killed 43 people, including 12 bombers.

The Casablanca plotters are suspected of financial ties to senior Al Qaeda leaders outside Morocco, U.S. officials have said on condition of anonymity.

When asked Sunday if a link has been established between the Saudi and Moroccan attacks, Mueller said: “It’s too early to make any definite statement as to the relationships.”

America’s “Saudi counterparts have moved aggressively to identify and detain those who would have some participation, either directly or more remotely,” to the Riyadh attacks, he said.

Late Sunday, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said 12 men and three women with rifles, bomb-making chemicals and $187,000 were arrested during the past two days in different locations in the holy city of Medina.

Ten of the detained men were Saudis; the others included Moroccans and a Syrian, authorities said. It was unclear if the suspects were connected to the May 12 attacks. The official only said they were detained in relation to the nationwide terrorism investigation.

U.S. investigators are in Saudi Arabia to only “assist their Saudi counterparts at the three sites” of the bombings, Mueller said.

Only one team of U.S. investigators remains in Saudi Arabia.