RIYADH, June 12: A US citizen was shot dead in Riyadh on Saturday, the police chief of the Riyadh region told newsmen. He said at least two people fired at the American from a pointblank range.

Eyewitnesses said the man was shot inside his car as he was parking it in front of his house in the Maathar district.

A US embassy spokeswoman confirmed that the slain man was a US national. Security officials at the scene said he was believed to have worked for an electronics company involved in a strategic oil reserve project.

Last Tuesday, a US military contractor was shot dead at his home in Riyadh. Four Saudi teenagers were arrested last Wednesday after they attacked two westerners working as aircraft maintenance technicians in two separate incidents in the summer resort city of Taif, to the east of Jeddah.

Al Qaeda has vowed that 2004 would be "bloody and miserable" for Saudi Arabia. A statement last month warned of attacks on USairlines and areas frequented by westerners.