| Saudi terrorists yesterday killed an American military adviser to the elite National Guard hours after al-Qa’eda warned Muslims to stay away from westerners, who were now a priority target. The dead man, Robert Jacobs, 62, worked for the Vinnell Corporation, an American defence contractor hired by the US military to train the guard, whose duties include protecting the Saudi royal family. It was the fifth assault on westerners in Saudi Arabia in five weeks and the second time in two days that an individual appeared to have been selected as a specific target. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to London, said the attacks "showed terrorists in Saudi Arabia had been reduced to opportunity targets rather than well-planned attacks such as the one mounted on Khobar [when 22 hostages were killed last month]". Police said the latest killing took place at about 2.30pm after shots were fired at the victim’s home in a residential area of eastern Riyadh. Some reports said he was followed home by three men after leaving a clinic and was shot inside his flat. Vinnell said that Mr Jacobs had chosen to live outside the company’s protected compound. |