Attack seen as proof of al Qaeda

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudis blamed al Qaeda militants Sunday for the suicide car bombing of a Riyadh housing complex that killed 17 people, declaring it proof of the terror network's willingness to shed Muslim blood in its zeal to bring down the U.S.-linked Saudi monarchy.\nThe attack late Saturday at an upscale compound for foreign workers -- where mostly Arabs lived, also wounded 122 people. The blast, not far from diplomatic quarters and the king's main palace, left piles of rubble, hunks of twisted metal, broken glass and a large crater.\n"It's no longer an issue of terrorism for them," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi analyst. "It's become a war on the regime, a war to turn the country into a new Afghanistan ruled by a Saudi-style Taliban."\nAn Interior Ministry official told the official Saudi news agency late Sunday that the death toll rose to 17 -- including five children -- after search crews pulled six more bodies from the rubble. At least 13 were Arabs, with the others as yet unidentified, the official said.\nU.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he was "personally quite sure" al Qaeda was behind the Saturday night attack "because this attack bears the hallmark of them."\nSuch attacks appear to be directed "against the government of Saudi Arabia and the people of Saudi Arabia," he said, adding that he expected more to follow.\nAl Qaeda "will prefer to have many such attacks to appear bigger than they are," he told a news conference shortly after arriving in the Saudi capital. Such attacks showed that "all of us have to work together."\nGunmen -- possibly disguised as police -- shot their way into the 200-house compound, trading fire with security guards. The attackers, believed to be in a police car, then drove into the compound and blew themselves up.\nIt still wasn't clear late Sunday how many attackers there were or if they were listed as among the dead.\nThe victims included Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese and Saudis. The Interior Ministry said most of the wounded were Arabs as well. Most of the compound's residents were Lebanese, but some Saudis, German, French and Italian families also lived there.\nFour U.S. citizens were among the wounded, the ministry said. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Amanda Batt said "some Americans were treated for minor injuries and released."\nIn comments published Sunday on the Web site of Saudi daily Okaz newspaper, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said he could not rule out a connection to suspected al Qaeda terrorist cells targeted in recent sweeps, as a number of suspects from those cells were still at large.\nAdding to the al Qaeda connection was the similarity between Saturday's bombing and attacks also blamed on the terror network -- particularly the May 12 suicide car bombings of other Riyadh compounds housing foreigners, which killed 26 bystanders. Nine attackers also died.\nLed by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda has long opposed the Saudi royal family, accusing it of being insufficiently Islamic and too close to the West, particularly the United States.