RIYADH, May 22: A German man was shot dead in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday and authorities said they were investigating whether the attack was the work of militants.

"He was a German," an Interior Ministry official said.

"We are not sure if this is a terrorist attack or only a personal crime," he told Reuters, adding that the German worked for a Saudi catering company.

Western diplomats could not confirm if the killing was carried out by militants loyal to Osama bin Laden

If it did have militant links, it would be the second such attack against Westerners in less than a month in the kingdom.

Earlier this month, militants killed five foreigners in an unprecedented attack on a petrochemical site on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea town of Yanbu. Saudi officials said the German was shot dead in a shopping district in eastern Riyadh.

"A car pulled up. They shot him in the head and body and escaped," a Western expatriate quoted a witness as saying. He said the attack occurred at 6:15pm (1515 GMT).

BOMB MATERIAL: Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had seized bomb-making equipment in the den of five wanted terror suspects raided by security forces, but did not reveal their identities.

Four of the extremists were killed and a fifth was wounded and arrested in Thursday's gunbattle in Al Qassim region, some 320 kilometres (200 miles) north of Riyadh. Two members of the security forces were also killed.

The forces found two trucks, one of which was used in an April 20 shooting in Buraida.-AFP