Saudis ignored warning: US

The US urgently asked Saudi Arabia to bolster security at residential compounds frequented by Westerners throughout the kingdom just days be...

The US urgently asked Saudi Arabia to bolster security at residential compounds frequented by Westerners throughout the kingdom just days before this week8217;s terrorist attack in which eight Americans died, but the Saudi government failed to act, the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday.

Saudi officials denied the charge. Speaking in US Morning Television interviews, Ambassador Robert Jordan asserted the Saudi government failed to respond quickly to the US request even after evidence accumulated that a major attack was imminent. 8216;8216;They did not, as of the time of this particular tragic event, provide the security that we had requested,8217;8217; Jordan said.

Blasts at 18 Karachi
Shell petrol pumps

KARACHI: SMALL bombs exploded at 18 Shell petrol stations in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Thursday, three days after suicide bombings on Western targets in oil-rich Saudi Arabia killed 34 people.

Police said they were investigating the matter, adding that no serious injuries or damage were reported.

Tariq Jameel, DIG, Karachi, said small devices packed into boxes were placed inside garbage bins at the stations run by Shell Pakistan throughout the city and appeared as though they were aimed to scare people.

8216;8216;The explosions caused no major injuries or damages,8217;8217; DIG Jameel said.

8216;8216;The aim was to create panic and the target was Shell.8217;8217; Reuters

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A US official said the request was made around May 1 and would have covered more than 300 residential compounds around the country.

Jordan8217;s remarks appear to reflect growing tension between the US and Saudi Arabia over whether the attack could have been prevented. A US official here said Jordan received a phone call from the State Department after midnight telling him to go on the television shows to put pressure on the Saudis. 8216;8216;We8217;re holding their feet to the fire,8217;8217; he said.

But White House and State Department officials were taken aback by Jordan8217;s comments, a State Department official in Washington said, since the Bush administration had decided to emphasise that they felt Saudi Arabia was cooperating.

In an interview after his television appearances, Jordan appeared to downplay his comments. 8216;8216;This was not casual indifference by the Saudis. It was a failure to connect the dots in a way that would have been helpful,8217;8217; Jordan said.

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Jordan noted that the armed guards did little to prevent the attack at one site, the compound operated by Vinnell Arabia, a local subsidiary of Fairfax-based Vinnell Corp. 8216;8216;In each time the American embassy or any other embassy seeks the intensification of security measures, the government fulfils this request,8217;8217; Saud said.

John Burgess, spokesman for the US embassy, said Saudi Arabia briefly enhanced security on some compounds after the request, but then let the matter drop.

A ministry official said requests for cooperation are often made by both countries, but he suggested it would not have been possible to supply security people to all the compounds as requested by the US embassy. LAT-WP