S. Arabia vows to hunt down terrorists

INDONESIA/SAUDI ARABIA: The Saudi Arabian foreign minister reiterated on Tuesday his government's resolve to hunt down terrorists.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in a statement, which was made available to The Jakarta Post by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Jakarta on Tuesday, that the recent terrorist attack in Al-Khobar would not discourage Saudi Arabia in its determination to fight terrorism.

He was referring to the recent suspected al-Qaeda militant attack on the Oasis residential compound in the oil city of Al- Khobar, which killed 22 people -- 19 of them foreigners.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot dead an American in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday who worked for a U.S. contracting firm, the U.S. embassy and the firm said.

It was the fifth assault on Westerners in the world's leading oil exporter in five weeks. -- Agencies

;AFP;APS; ANPAi..u.. Mideast-Israel-politics Israeli minister quits cabinet in protest at Gaza pullout plan JP/11/ATW Israeli minister quits cabinet JERUSALEM: The leader of Israel's hardline National Religious Party (NRP), Effi Eitam, handed in his resignation from the coalition cabinet to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday, public radio reported.

"The cabinet decision (to approve the Gaza pullout) offers Hamas a terrorist state on a plate, at the expense of the blood of Jews," Housing Minister Eitam charged in his letter to Sharon.

A party colleague, deputy social affairs minister Yitzhak Levy, also submitted his resignation in protest at the cabinet's decision on Sunday to approve Sharon's so-called disengagement plan.

But fellow NRP deputy Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev has decided to remain in the cabinet. --AFP