Saudi holds suspect over killing of French tourists

RIYADH, July 15 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia has detained a man suspected of involvement in an attack which killed four French tourists in the conservative Muslim state earlier this year, the official news agency SPA said today.

Nasser al-Buluwi, sought as a suspect in the case, was seized today in al-Jouf in the far north of the vast desert kingdom, SPA said.

The four holidaymakers were among a group of nine French people attacked by militants while on a desert trip in Saudi Arabia in February, the first attack on foreigners by suspected al Qaeda militants in the kingdom for 2-1/2 years.

The gunmen ambushed the group who were camping in the desert in the scenic western part of Saudi Arabia, shooting male members of the party, including a teenager.

Islamic militants swearing allegiance to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign to topple the US-allied Saudi monarchy in 2003, carrying out attacks on foreigners and government installations, including the oil industry.

Saudi security services said in May they had arrested a man suspected of helping the militants who killed the tourists. In April it arrested eight other men in the case.

The main suspect, Walid bin Mutlaq al-Raddadi, was killed in May when police stormed a residential building in the Muslim holy city of Medina.

REUTERS AGL RN2030