A UK and an Irish citizen reported dead in Riyadh bombings

One British and one Irish citizen are reported dead as the death toll in the Riyadh suicide bombings rose to 34 overnight.

British Foreign Office officials have said that two Britons are among the missing, though it has not yet been established if the person reported killed is one of those unaccounted for after three suicide bomb teams exploded devices in residential compounds for foreign nationals in the Saudi capital on Monday night.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs is investigating the claim that an Irish citizen was among one of those killed.

Five British people were injured and the British Foreign Office has set up an emergency telephone number for people concerned about relatives in Riyadh. The number is 020 7008 0000.

Initial reports yesterday put the number killed by the blasts at 29, 10 of whom were from the US. Almost 200 people are reported as injured.

Saudi authorities believe that nine terrorists were also killed during the well-orchestrated attack that that the US and UK have blamed on al-Qaida.

According to Saudi officials, the first explosion at Al-Hamra Complex killed 10 people, including two Jordanian children, four Saudis, two Filipinos, a Lebanese and a Swiss national. The second explosion, which took place at Eshbilia complex, killed two Saudis. And the third explosion at Finille Complex killed seven Americans and a Saudi national. Nine charred bodies, believed to be the bodies of the terrorists, have been found at the site of the explosions.

Earlier, the Foreign Office cautioned British people only to travel to Saudi Arabia if it is absolutely essential.

The US authorities are to dispatch FBI agents to Riyadh to help investigate the bombings.

(SP)