Americans shot in Saudi work for US defence contractor

RIYADH // Two Americans who came under fire in Saudi Arabia this weekend are employees of a US defence contractor, the firm said on Sunday.

It was the second attack in recent months against Vinnell Arabia.

“We can confirm that two Vinnell Arabia employees were involved in an incident on Friday, in which they were shot at by assailants in the Al Ahsa province of Saudi Arabia,” the company said in a statement.

“Both employees were injured but are in stable condition at a local hospital,” it added.

Saudi police said earlier that one American had been wounded in a shooting.

“A car carrying two American nationals ... came under fire from an unknown source” on Friday afternoon in Al Ahsa, in the Eastern Province where most the kingdom’s oil wealth is, said police.

Vinnell Arabia provides training for the Saudi Arabian National Guard, one of the three main branches of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces.

The attack is the fourth against Westerners in the kingdom since October.

It comes as Saudi Arabia, together with the UAE, participates in US-led airstrikes against the ISIL militant group in Syria, raising concerns about possible retaliation inside the kingdom.

In October, one Vinnell employee was shot dead and another wounded at a petrol station in Riyadh.

The interior ministry identified the suspected shooter as Abdulaziz Fahad Abdulaziz Alrashid, 24, a US-born Saudi who had been fired from Vinnell Arabia.

The ministry said at the time that the suspect, who was shot and wounded in a gunfight with security forces, had no “prior links” with extremist groups.

A month later, a Danish citizen was wounded by gunmen as he left work in his car. Supporters of ISIL released a video of the shooting and claimed responsibility for it, leading to the arrest of three Saudis with links to the militant group.

* Agence France-Presse