Saudi bombers 'must be caught soon'

Bombers who left a Briton badly injured in an attack in Saudi Arabia must be caught "as soon as possible", a UK minister has said.

The victim - Edinburgh man David Brown - was attacked in Khobar, Eastern Province, on Friday night.

He is the third Briton to be targeted in a bomb attack in less than a month, although UK Foreign Office minister Peter Hain said it was too early to make a link.

It's very serious and I don't want to speculate on who was responsible

Peter Hain

Mr Hain told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Saudi authorities were fully co-operating with British officials - but he called for a speedy resolution to their investigation.

The latest device went off as Mr Brown tried to remove a small parcel which looked like a pack of juice placed near the windshield of his car, a security source told local news agency SPA.

British ambassador Derek Plumly told the BBC that Mr Brown had suffered severe injuries to his hands and eyes.

He has undergone surgery and a specialist medical team has been sent down to the Eastern Province to help care for him.

His wife was uninjured in the attack.

Mr Brown is understood to be a customer services manager for Coca-Cola International, aged in his mid-30s.

There have been security warnings on the Foreign Office website

The recent spate of bombings began when Briton Christopher Rodway, 48, was killed and his wife wounded when his car exploded in Riyadh on 17 November.

Four days later, three Britons and an Irish woman were injured in a second attack in the capital.

Saudi Arabian authorities had arrested a US national in connection with the two bomb attacks.

Mr Hain told the BBC: "It's very serious and I don't want to speculate on who was responsible."

He went on: "It's the third such incident, and it's too early to say whether it is part of a pattern, but you can't ignore one incident after the other, which is why we have had a British police team out there investigating the situation with the Saudi authorities.

"The Saudi ministry of the interior has co-operated fully with us, and has made clear its determination to find who was responsible, and we want to see that happen as quickly as possible."

Special advice

He said that following recent events Britons living in Saudi Arabia had been issued with special security advice, especially covering cars.

In the past few weeks there have been community meetings, and security guidance has been posted on the internet.

He added that Britons generally had "a very happy coexistence" with local Saudis and he was perplexed by the attacks.

But Mr Hain conceded that Britain's stance on Iraq had "evoked a lot of criticism in the region" and "this may or may not be related".

Dr Saad Al-Faqih, head of the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, told the BBC that all Westerners in Saudi Arabia were potential targets

He believes the attacks are being carried out by small groups of Saudis who oppose the presence of Western military forces in the country.

Emotions have also been heightened in recent weeks by the clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.

Although most Saudis blame America for supporting Israel, Dr Al-Faqih said, US citizens were harder to attack as they were more vigilant than Britons.