DUBAI, Feb 20: A British national was shot dead on Thursday in the Saudi capital, the Saudi Interior Ministry reported.

The official Saudi Press Agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying the Briton, identified as Robert Denith, an employee of the British aviation and aerospace company BAE Systems, was gunned down when he stopped at a traffic light in the district of Gharnata in the capital Riyadh.

The spokesman said that when the traffic stopped at the light a Saudi man, identified as Saud Bin Ali Bin Nasser, 30, opened fire at Denith, killing him instantly. Nasser had been working as a sales person for Toyota.

Security forces succeeded in arresting the killer immediately after the shooting.—dpa