Toll from Riyadh suicide bomb blasts rises to 34; US makes plans to evacuate 40,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia. United States officials have warned that there could be more attacks following the triple car bomb blasts in Riyadh as Al-Qaeda hinted of more strikes against other capitals in the Middle East. As the death toll rose to 34 yesterday, foreign companies like Boeing began evacuating their staff from the kingdom. The US State Department has also issued an order for dependants and non-essential staff to leave while laying on evacuation plans for some 40,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials blamed the attack on a group of 19 members of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network who escaped after a shoot-out with police earlier this month. In a message sent to a Saudi weekly newspaper, Al-Majallah, on Tuesday, an Al-Qaeda operative hinted that his group was indeed behind the Riyadh bombings even as he warned that his men would launch similar operations ‘in the Gulf countries and countries allied to America, particularly Egypt and Jordan’. The fear of fresh attacks was fuelled by the amount of ammunition and high-grade explosives recovered earlier this month – a sign more bombings were planned. Full Story
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