BBC's Frank Gardner shot

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AP-SAUDI ATTACKS, 4TH LD-WRITETHRU
Irish cameraman killed, British journalist injured in shooting in Saudi capital

By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - An Irish cameraman working for the British Broadcasting Corp. was killed and a British reporter injured in a shooting Sunday in the Saudi capital, just hours after the foreign minister said the kingdom was doing "everything we can" to protect citizens and residents.

The BBC identified the dead man as Simon Cumbers, 36, and the injured man as BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the attack on the two journalists and pledged that Britain "will continue to do all we can to support the Saudi authorities in their fight against terrorism."

The violence came less than a week after 22 people, most of them foreigners, were killed in a shooting rampage and hostage-taking in the eastern Saudi oil hub of Khobar. Saudi security forces captured one of the four attackers in the May 29 assault and are still looking for the other three.

Many viewed the attack as an attempt by Islamic radicals to drive foreigners out of the kingdom, a move that could seriously hurt its oil industry. The attacks last week sent oil price to record highs.

The British Foreign Office has advised British nationals against all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia. The United States has gone further, urging all of its citizens to leave the kingdom _ a move criticized by Saudi officials.

The two journalists had gone to Saudi Arabia last week after the terror attacks.

Cumbers was a freelance journalist and cameraman who had worked for Associated Press Television News and ITN, the BBC said. After the shooting, Saudi television showed footage of a dark-haired man sitting, half-upright, in the middle of a street, two bloodstains visible on his white shirt.

Saudi police said unidentified gunmen shot the two men at 5:45 p.m. in the Suweidi neighborhood of Riyadh, an ultraconservative area that has seen several shootouts between security forces and suspected militants.

___

Associated Press writer Barry Schweid in Washington contributed to this report.

The journalists, who traveled to Saudi Arabia last week, were walking in a neighborhood on the south side of Riyadh on Sunday when men in a passing car opened fire on them, a senior official at the Saudi Interior Ministry told CNN.

The assailants escaped, a Western diplomat said.

Mr Gardener, 42, an expert on al Qaida, needed surgery following the attack in the southern district of Suweidi.

Saudi TV showed a dark-haired man sitting, half-upright, in the middle of a street, two bloodstains visible on his white shirt.

Hospital sources here said Gardner was out of danger after undergoing surgery at Al-Iman hospital. They said he would be moved to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the capital.

I wish you'd stop editing posts adding details every minute! Makes people sound stupid...

I'm presuming it's the story that begins with "A man has been killed and a Briton injured after gunmen opened fire in a suburb of the Saudi capital Riyadh." Interesting they haven't/didn't name him as a BBC reporter.