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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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From Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh A 24-year-old Sri Lankan was among the five expatriate workers killed in Monday's terrorist attack on the US Consulate General in Jeddah. The attack was the first of its kind on a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia in the latest in a series of bombings and shootings blamed on Al-Qaeda in the oil-rich desert Kingdom since May 2003 often targeting foreigners. Three of the five assailants were killed and the others injured in the fray were arrested by Saudi police. Mohamed Sadiq Jaufer from Gelioya succumbed to gun shot injuries when caught in the cross-fire between the terrorists and the Saudi security forces. Jaufer was a contract guard working for Othman and Ghamdhi Security and General Services Company while the others were engaged in the general services of the mission contracted by the same company. According to his colleagues, Jaufer has been working for the company for the past three years and had applied to go to Sri Lanka on vacation last week. The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh confirmed his death and said it was contacting his family in Gelioya, 150 kms from Colombo to inform about the death through the Foreign Ministry in Colombo. "I met Jaufer in the morning and he told me he was going to Sri Lanka after two weeks to take his sick father to India for medical treatment," a friend who is his neighbour in his hometown told the Daily News on condition of anonymity. "When we heard the security alarm of the mission we took precautions by locking the room and hiding ourselves according to the missions security instructions" said Mohamed Nirous from Maggona who had been working with two Indians and a Sudanese inside the building. "After 20 minutes we heard gun shots close to our building and terrorists broke open our doors and asked for Americans," Nirous said. "We were so frightened that we told them that we are all poor Asian working for a private company in the complex and appealed them not to harm us" and then "they forced us to leave the building immediately" he said. Soon as they came out, all four workers got caught in the cross-fire. One killed and another seriously injured. Jaufer was the third Sri Lankan to die in terror attacks in Saudi Arabia. In Al-khobar attack, Sivasubramaniam and Anthony from Mattakkuliya succumbed to injuries in a bomb blast on Oasis compound in May this year. |
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