Attacks on Westerners have been reported in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In Kuwait, a Canadian national employed by the U.S. defense firm DynCorp was killed in a drive-by shooting. The victim was identified as Luc Ethier, 36, shot three times on the outskirts of Kuwait City.

In Doha, a U.S. national was killed in mysterious circumstances. The American was an employee of the U.S. military in Qatar.

Attacks on Westerners were also reported in Saudi Arabia. A firebomb was hurled at a German couple on Tuesday. The two escaped harm.

Last week, a U.S. national was killed in a bombing in Riyad.

The Saudi kingdom has refused to participate in the military offensive against Afghan's ruling Taliban movement.

Diplomats said embassies have warned Western nationals to stay indoors and avoid crowds or Islamic sites. They said Ethier could have been killed by Islamic militants aligned with Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.

Ethier's wife, who was wounded in the shooting, said a man with a rifle shouted "God is great" as he opened fire on late Wednesday. Ethier was an aircraft engineer who worked at Kuwait's Ahmed Al Jaber air base.

Most residents of GCC countries are foreigners. Sixty-five percent of Kuwait's population are foreigners, most of them from Asia.

Americans are believed to be the most vulnerable to Islamic attack and the FBI has warned of attacks throughout the world. About 8,000 Americans, many of them linked to the U.S. military, reside in Kuwait.

"We urge American citizens to limit their movements, maintain a low profile and remain alert to their surroundings," the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait said in a statement.

On Thursday, the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat daily reported that the Saudi leadership had refused to host British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is touring the Middle East. "This was because the Saudi leadership was sensitive about its role and position in both the Arab and Islamic world," the newspaper said.

Bahrain has also denied any involvement in the U.S.-led attack. "Reports that strikes on Taliban positions in Afghanistan were coming from the territorial waters of Bahrain are not true," the Bahraini military command said. "No warships participating in the bombing operations are stationed in the territorial waters of Bahrain."

JERUSALEM, 12 October 2001 (VOA): Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in various cities in the Middle East to protest the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. Many more thronged to mosques for Friday prayers throughout the region and heard anti-American sermons.

Several thousand Palestinians staged anti-American demonstrations in the West Bank Friday, including in Ramallah and Nablus. Many chanted their support for Osama bin Laden and vented their anger against U.S. President George W. Bush, describing him as the "father of terrorism."

The Palestinian Authority has clamped down on anti-American demonstrations and earlier this week sent out police to quell one such protest in Gaza. Two Palestinian youths were killed in the incident. Palestinian police have also clamped down on media coverage of protests, at times barring journalists from entering protest areas.

Tens of thousands of protesters, including some government ministers, took to the streets in Iran. In Tehran, marchers carried placards denouncing the U.S. action as terrorism. Others declared their willingness to join a jehad (war against imperialistic terrorism) against the United States and its allies. The Iranian government has denounced terrorism, but is also critical of the American action. But Iran has also helped supply weapons to the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

There was heavy police presence in Cairo as about 5,000 people demonstrated after Friday prayers at the city's Al-Azhar mosque. In Lebanon, several thousand people took to the streets in the northern city of Tripoli to denounce what they called the U.S."aggression."

Muslims across the region thronged to mosques and heard anti-American sermons. In Saudi Arabia, prayers were held in support of Afghans and to denounce the "enemies of Islam," but they made no direct mention of the U.S. and British attacks. In the Syrian capital, Damascus, an imam denounced terrorism, but said that terrorism cannot be fought by waging wars that destroy cities and kill women and children.

The Associated Press reports that in one mosque in Baghdad, the imam and worshippers broke down in tears. The imam spoke of a crusade against Muslims, led by America. He also accused the United States and Britain of playing games as they destroy cities and kill people.

The United States and its allies have repeatedly stressed that the attacks are not against the Afghan people or Islam, but rather against Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaida network, and the Taleban rulers of Afghanistan who harbor him and his supporters.

IRAN, 12 October 2001 (VOA): In Iran, a crowd angered by the U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan has attacked the Pakistan Consulate in the southwest Iranian town of Zahedan, near Iran's border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Demonstrators threw stones and broke windows in the Consulate before police brought them under control. Reuters and AFP news reports say the crowd of Afghan refugees and some Iranians shouted "Down with America".

They were protesting Pakistan's support for the the U.S. and British strikes in Afghanistan.

SUDAN, 12 October 2001 (VOA): Sudan's National Assembly has condemned the U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan, calling them unjust and illegitimate.

The Assembly issued a statement Friday urging that the United Nations use its influence to ensure that justice is done. It also appealed to all the world's nations for relief food and medicine that can be sent to the Afghan people.

Some religious leaders in Sudan Friday had even sharper words about the airstrikes. The Sudanese Ulema Council expressed support for exiled Saudi citizen Osama bin Laden, suspected of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States Government.

Sudanese religious leaders also urged the government not to prevent Sudanese people from joining the jehad, or struggle, against the West by Afghan militants in Afghanistan.

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/10/459.htm