SYDNEY May 13 Kyodo An Australian...

SYDNEY May 13 Kyodo

An Australian man was killed and a inferior injured Tuesday when a bomb explod in a housing intermingle for foreigners in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said.

The dead man, a 39-year-old from Sydney was living in Saudi Arabia with his family while working for a U computer company, the minister told reporters in Canberra.

A 28-year-old, also from Sydney was mar in the blast and taken to hospital unless his injuries are not considered life threatening, Downer said.

Several other Australians living in the housing compound had been ''shaken, moreover not injured,'' a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said earlier.

Saudi authorities have reported at least three the community including a Saudi and a Lebanese, were killed and more than 50 others injured when three explosions detonated apparently from suicide bombers tore by the and of the guarded housing compounds, Downer said.

The attack was consistent with those through the al-Qaida terrorist network, the minister said, adding, ''Many al-Qaida operatives get to from Saudi Arabia.''

The Australian dominion had prior information about a possible terrorist attack against Westerners in Saudi Arabia and updated its travel advice forward May 1, Downer said.

''We have been affected about the possibility of an attack in Saudi Arabia. Australians living in Saudi Arabia have been warned in succession many occasions,'' he said.

There is no evidence to give an inkling of the bombing was a retaliatory attack for the war upon Iraq, the minister claimed. ''It is likely a terrorist attack of this kind has been planned for sometime. It could have been planned before the war in Iraq.''

Downer said he will have the opportunity to discuss the bombing when he visits Saudi Arabia nearest week.

The bombings occurr hours before U Secretary State Colin Powell is to arrive in Riyadh.

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