Javid Hassan, Arab News Staff

RIYADH, 3 December 2003 — The US Embassy yesterday warned of a possible terrorist attack against residential compounds.

A warden’s message said the Seder Village housing compound in Riyadh had been under active surveillance by terrorist elements and warned that other compounds used by Westerners could also be targeted.

Because of the threat, American diplomats and their dependents have been instructed, except for official business, not to visit compounds in the Riyadh area between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Security around compounds and in the Diplomatic Quarter has been strengthened. Seder Village is under virtual siege with round-the-clock patrols by National Guard armored vehicles.

Journalists visiting the compound, which contains 279 villas, were met by security personnel at several checkpoints, their iqamas and ID cards examined, before being allowed to proceed.

“I am scared, but we have to be prepared for every eventuality,” Islam Jeffrinigosha, a Filipino, and Tarek Khan, a Pakistani, working on the compound, told Arab News.

No one, including the security officer at Seder Village, an American national who would not give his name, could explain the basis for the warning. “You should direct your question to the US Embassy,” the officer said. Phone calls to the embassy elicited no information from officials who declined to answer questions.

Asked if the compound’s security arrangements could cope with the threat, the security official replied in the affirmative. Besides a three-tier security ring, the whole complex has been buttressed by hundreds of concrete blocks wired together into a formidable fence.

According to the warden’s message posted on the embassy website: “The embassy continues to be concerned about the current security situation in Saudi Arabia, particularly housing compounds in the Riyadh area.”

The message continues: “Recent, confirmed information indicates that the Seder Village housing compound in Riyadh has been under active surveillance by terrorist elements and that other Western compounds within the Kingdom may also be targeted.”

The warning comes only days after the British Embassy issued an advisory on what it believed to be a continuing security threat to British nationals in the Kingdom.

Earlier, Saudi officials said they had thwarted a planned attack by capturing a vehicle packed with more than a ton of explosives.