November 10, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1424

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WASHINGTON, Nov 9: The United States has ordered its diplomatic staff and their families in Saudi Arabia to remain in their homes and not to leave Riyadh’s diplomatic enclave after a bomb attack in the capital, the State Department said.

“Because of the bombing at a Riyadh residential compound, the embassy is advising the American community in Riyadh that it currently remains closed to the public,” the department said.

In addition, embassy personnel and their dependents are restricting their movements and will remain in the Diplomatic Quarter pending further assessment of the security situation,” it said.

The order came after a suicide car bombing rocked a residential compound west of Riyadh just a day after the US closed its embassy and consulates in the country, warning of a potentially imminent attack on US or western interests there.

The American Embassy, three miles away from the attack site in the heavily protected diplomatic quarter, was closed to the public on Saturday. The US Consulates on opposite coasts in Dhahran and Jeddah were also closed.

The US, British and Australian governments had all issued travel advisories at the beginning of Ramazan, two weeks ago, warning of a possible terrorist attack. The American Embassy’s warning told American citizens to be on alert during the month.

Carol Kalin, a spokeswoman for the embassy, said all embassy personnel were accounted for immediately after the attack, but it would take longer to check on the community at large.

In a notice released on Friday, the US embassy said it continued “to receive credible information the terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom.”

“The embassy strongly urges all American citizens in the kingdom to be especially vigilant when in any area that is perceived to be American or Western,” it said.