Blast levels Saudi Arabia security building

The blast on Wednesday afternoon clogged with smoke on the central al-Muraba and al-Washm quarters, an area of Riyadh which also houses the state television and the information ministry.

No official figures have yet been released, but 10 people are feared dead and many more wounded.

Local residents said the front of a building had been completely blown off.

A spokesman from the Ministry of the Interior described the blast as a "terrorist attack" - normal government parlance for dissidents fighting a low level insurgency - and added that the bomber's body had already been found.

Islamist attack?

Islamist fighters who see the country as a US satrap have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia's security services.

Five policemen died last week and army units defused three car bombs in the capital.

Saudi-born Usama bin Ladin has also called for the removal of the country's monarch and his al-Qaida network is accused of killing nearly 50 people in the kingdom last year.

Last Thursday, the United States ordered its non-essential diplomats out of the Gulf Arab state and told all Americans that they should leave, citing fresh signals of possible attacks on US and Western

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