THE continued threat of terrorism in Saudi Arabia has triggered a mini-exodus of Western expatriates from the country, where security forces are now engaged in almost daily encounters with Muslim militants.

After the decision by British Airways to suspend its flights to Riyadh and Jedda last month, fearing an attack on one of its aircraft, the British and American schools in the Saudi capital have reported that enrolment for the coming academic term is down sharply on previous years.

The British International School in Riyadh, located in al-Hamra compound outside the capital, was one of the buildings hit during suicide bombings in May by al-Qaeda militants, who killed 35 people in a series of attacks against military and foreign targets.

This week the school announced that it had finished repairs and had installed new security measures, including a barrier at its gates built to stop a suicide bomber. Despite the defensive measures, the school said in a bulletin that “predictably after the events of last term, places remain available”.

In fact, more than a quarter of the 1,100 pupils will not be returning when the school reopens this weekend. Some teachers have also left. Similarly, the American International School in Riyadh has shrunk by 15-20 per cent.

“After the attacks I decided to take my wife and children out of here and relocate to Dubai,” one Western expatriate said. “I am prepared to carry on working in Saudi, I need the money, but the situation is far too dangerous to risk the lives of my family.”

Similar action has been taken by many of the 30,000 British expatriates, who have been given warning by the Foreign Office against “all but essential travel” to Saudi Arabia because of the terrorist threat. British Aerospace, one of the largest defence contractors in the Kingdom, said that most of its staff had remained in Saudi Arabia but that many had chosen to evacuate their families.

The authorities in Riyadh insist that they are winning the battle against terror. Extra security guards and defensive walls have been placed around foreign compounds and diplomatic missions. It is now mandatory to have guards at schools, foreign airline offices and other potential Western targets. The Saudis have also allowed American investigators to work alongside them in hunting terrorist suspects and in tracing the source of funding for Islamic militant groups abroad.

The struggle against terrorist supporters of Osama bin Laden could be long and bloody. So far more than 200 suspects have been arrested and several policemen killed in gun battles in the country’s main cities. At the weekend security forces discovered a large cache of arms at a farm near the southern city of Abha, near the lawless Yemeni border. Another arms find and several arrests were reported in the holy city of Medina.

Mohsen al-Awajy, a Saudi cleric, gave warning that the campaign could backfire against the authorities, who were seen to be operating under American pressure and targeting Saudi veterans of the war in Afghanistan, who at the time were backed by Riyadh and Washington.

“In the Saudi street, people are not happy with the mass operations against former Mujahidin, who were encouraged by the Saudi Government. Without US pressure our own Government would not be as harsh against their own people,” he said.

Nevertheless, that pressure is likely to increase following allegations that Saudi terrorists were behind last week’s assassination of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, the Iraqi Shia Muslim leader.

Prince Nayef, the Interior Minister, dismissed the charges as “baseless”, although US officials have claimed that Saudi mercenaries have slipped across the border into Iraq to fight the US-led Coalition.

The Saudis are also expected to be put under pressure to halt alleged support for Chechen militants fighting against Russia, when Crown Prince Abdullah travels to Moscow today on the first visit by a Saudi leader to Russia.

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