BBC cameraman slain, journalist wounded in Saudi as terror takes uglier turn

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

RIYADH (AFP) — A BBC cameraman was shot dead and a fellow journalist wounded in Riyadh, the latest in a string of terror attacks by suspected Islamist extremists increasingly targeting Westerners in Saudi Arabia.

Barely a week after gunmen killed 22 people, including several Westerners, in a shooting rampage and hostage-taking drama in the eastern oil city of Al-Khobar, the Irish cameraman and British journalist came under fire in the Al-Suwaidi district in southern Riyadh near the home of a top wanted militant.

The BBC confirmed in London late Sunday that cameraman Simon Cumbers, 36, was killed while security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42, was injured and was being treated in hospital in the Saudi capital.

Gardner "is a leading expert on Al-Qaeda and...