From the International Desk
Published 5/13/2003 2:19 PM
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. State Department official on Tuesday scaled down the death toll estimate in the Saudi suicide bombings late Monday, saying it was likely not the 91 the department released earlier but close to the Saudi estimate of 29.

The bombings, which took place about 11:30 p.m. Monday, constituted one of the deadliest terror attacks on Americans since Sept. 11, 2001, and Secretary of State Colin Powell said the coordinated strike had "the earmarks of al-Qaida."

Powell visited the site of one of the blasts, which occurred just hours before his arrival in Riyadh to rally support for the "road map" for peace in the Middle East.

"The damage you see will not deter the United States, will not deter Saudi Arabia, in our efforts" to fight terrorists, a grim-faced Powell said at the bomb site. "Things like this cannot continue to happen."

Calling it a well-planned and well-executed attack, he said: "It shows the nature of the enemy we're working against."

In Amman, Jordan, earlier, Powell said the attack would make the United States double its efforts "to go after terrorism."

In Indianapolis, President George W. Bush vowed to hunt down the attackers.

"These despicable acts were committed by killers whose only faith is hate, and the United States will find the killers, and they will learn the meaning of American justice," he said. "The United States will find these killers and they will find the meaning of American justice."

The attacks targeted residential compounds in the capital's eastern Garnata sector used mostly by Western businessmen working in Saudi Arabia. The attackers drove vehicles packed with explosives into three compounds protected by Saudi security guards. A fourth explosion hit the offices of a Saudi-U.S. business, but there were no reported casualties in that blast.

The official Saudi Press Agency reported 29 deaths, including those of the attackers, but said that at least 194 people were also injured in the blasts.

At least 10 people were killed in the first explosion at al-Hamra Complex, including two Jordanian children, four Saudis, two Filipinos, a Lebanese and a Swiss, the agency said. The second explosion, which took place at Eshbilia complex, killed two Saudis, and the third explosion at Finille Complex killed seven Americans and a Saudi, it said.

The SPA said nine charred bodies at the site of the explosions were believed to be those of the drivers of the vehicles. Investigators were still trying to identify the attackers and their links to a terrorist network Saudi authorities say they unearthed last week.

In Washington, an hour after saying the toll may be as high as 91, State Department officials said it might be nearer 29, the figure provided by the Saudis.

The FBI ordered a counter-terrorism team to the area to work with Saudi officials, though Powell refused "to speculate on the nature of the investigation."

Many Americans are employed in the Saudi oil industry and some provide training for Saudi military forces. The American school in Riyadh was closed Tuesday and the State Department asked U.S. citizens there to remain at home.

Powell, on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals, arrived in Riyadh shortly after the attacks and met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on the situation in Iraq and the Middle East "road map." He then headed to the site of the attacks. In Amman, he said al-Qaida had been hit hard in the U.S.-led operations after Sept. 11, but "it has not been destroyed."

In Riyadh, al-Arabiya TV quoted witnesses as saying they heard a series of smaller blasts from inside the compound. These were apparently caused by hand grenades tossed by men who stormed the compound and engaged in clashes with security forces, the report said.

In remarks to al-Watan newspaper, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayif Bin-Abd-al-Aziz denied there were clashes inside the compound, however. But SPA quoted a ministry official as saying guards inside the targets has engaged the attackers in gunfire.

The State Department issued a warning May 1 advising Americans to avoid travel to Saudi Arabia because of increased terrorism concerns. On May 7, Saudi authorities reported uncovering a terrorist network and seizing a large cache of arms and ammunition from an undisclosed area. They said they were seeking 19 suspects who escaped after an armed shootout and were linked to the discovered weapons.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, blamed for Sept. 11, was born in Saudi Arabia but has been stripped of his nationality because of his activities. He is believed to have sympathizers in the oil-rich nation.

Monday night's attacks brought back images of the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers barracks in the Saudi city of Dhahran. At least 19 Americans were killed during that attack when an explosives-laden truck crashed into the building.

The international community condemned the latest bombings.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Tuesday deplored the Chechnya, Russia, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bombings as "heinous acts of terrorism." He said he hoped the attacks served as "a wake-up call for everyone that terrorism is not over yet and that we must all remain vigilant."

China said it was "shocked" by bombing and expressed its "sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims."

Russia said the attacks were linked to the bomb attack in its breakaway province of Chechnya that killed more than 40 people.

"All of these are undoubtedly links in a chain, the explosions in Saudi Arabia and in Chechnya and in other places," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko said.

In Lebanon, where Powell was Monday, President Emile Lahoud condemned the bombings as terrorist actions that were bad for peace and stability in the region. He said they obstructed efforts to deal with the Middle Eastern cycle of violence and bloodshed.

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(With reporting from United Press International's Arabic Service in Riyadh and London, Anwar Iqbal in Washington and Dalal Saoud in Beirut, Lebanon.)