DATE=11/9/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=SAUDI/BLASTS (S-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-309627

BYLINE=JAMES MARTONE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Saudi Arabia says at least 11 people were killed in a suicide car bomb that ripped through a residential compound west of Riyadh. The list of dead includes Saudi, Egyptian, Lebanese, and Sudanese nationals. James Martone reports from V-O-A's Middle East Bureau in Cairo

TEXT: /// ACT OF RESCUERS, SAUDI T-V, FADE UNDER ///

Saudi state television continued to show scenes of devastation at what was the upscale (al-Muhaya) complex where many of Saudi Arabia's foreign workers lived.

The T-V showed twisted cars and metal, and a five-meter wide crater at the complex that Saudi authorities say was the work of al-Qaida suicide bombers. Rescuers were shown sifting through the blasts rubble, looking for survivors.

The huge blast followed renewed terror alerts issued by Western nations. The United States had closed its diplomatic missions in the kingdom.

Hundreds of suspected Muslim militants have been arrested in Saudi Arabia in an intensified crackdown on suspected extremists that the government says are linked to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. (SIGNED)

NEB/JM/ALW/RAE