RIYADH, 26 June 2004 — Two Pakistani women were brutally murdered at an upmarket residential compound here Thursday night, diplomats and residents told Arab News yesterday.
A massive search is on for the murderer of Amina Abdullah and her mother-in-law Amina Nuzhat Usman, who were found stabbed multiple times, according to Pakistani Ambassador Abdul Aziz Mirza.
The killing was apparently neither terror-related nor a robbery as nothing appeared to have been taken from the house, he said.
Amina Abdullah, who was in her late twenties, had only recently been married to Syed Atif Usman, 28, according to the ambassador.
An Embassy statement said compound security identified a Filipino suspect, who had worked for a contractor at the Seder Village compound where the murder took place, when he drove into the heavily fortified compound.
They said the suspect broke into the women’s home around 8 p.m. while Syed Atif was out, tied their hands and taped their mouths shut before stabbing them.
At the time of the break-in, the women were on the telephone to Amina Abdullah’s parents in the US, who alerted Syed Atif that an attack had taken place.
He in turn told compound security who rushed to the house where they found the door open.
Compound workers said the house had not been ransacked. The assailant appeared to know the house well.
After the killing at least one suspect was seen driving out of the compound. Police have found the getaway car and a bloodstained shirt, according to the statement.
Pakistani diplomats said the bodies would be released once forensic examinations are complete.
Repeated phone calls from Arab News to the compound and Syed Atif’s company, Henkel Arabia, elicited no further information.
Mystery shrouds the escape of the murderer despite a three-tier security ring around the compound.
The whole compound is also buttressed by hundreds of concrete blocks wired together into a formidable fence.
The killing has reignited fears among Riyadh’s expatriate community already rattled by a string of attacks targeting residential compounds and foreigners here.
“The capital is growing increasingly unsafe not only for Western expatriates but also for Asians,” said Hanifa Wiqar, a Pakistani woman.
“It is a reality that male members of the family cannot stay with their family at all times.”
The high-end Seder Village located off Khorais Road, north of exit 30, groups some 280 villas.
A Pakistan Embassy statement said Amina Nuzhat Usman was the wife of Syed Usman Ghani Raashid, who had served as advocate general of the Sindh and Balochistan High Court in Pakistan.
