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Saudis Hunt Frenchman’s Killers

Saudi security forces are pursuing the killers of a French citizen, Laurent Barbot, who was killed in Jedda’s Zahra neighborhood on Sunday.

Barbot, 45, worked for the military technology systems company Thales. If it is found to be a terror attack, this incident is the first terrorist attack against a Western national in Jedda, and the first time a French national has been targeted by terror in the kingdom.

Some 200 checkpoints have since been set up throughout the city, according to the Saudi daily Al-Watan. Special forces are surrounding the Zahra neighborhood and are barring anyone from entering or leaving.

Spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry Man’sour ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz A-Turki announced that the murder method indicates the aim was motivated by terror rather than by crime. He told Al-Watan that it is very likely this was a terrorist act but that other possibilities are being investigated.

Barbot is the second Westerner to be killed in the kingdom within ten days, since a British citizen was shot in Riyadh on September 15.

Saudi Arabia is currently fighting a spate of terror attacks against Western residents and economic interests, being perpetrated in a bid to undermine the monarchy and intimidate Western forces in the bordering Iraq.