A cameraman working for the BBC has been killed and a correspondent injured after gunmen shot them near the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the BBC said in statement on Sunday.

According to the BBC, the dead was identified as Simon Cumbers, 36, a freelance Irish journalist and cameraman working for the BBC and other news organizations, and the injured was its security correspondent Frank Gardner, 42, a leading expert on al-Qaeda.

The two men had traveled to Saudi Arabia last week following terrorist attacks in the city of Khobar and have been reporting from the country for BBC News since then, the BBC said.

The BBC quoted Riyadh's police as saying that the attack was carried out by "unknown elements" at around 1445 GMT.

Earlier reports also quoted Saudi security sources as saying the gunmen had escaped and roadblocks had been set up in an effort to catch them.

BBC Director of News Richard Sambrook said that the BBC was "seeking more details about what happened in this incident."

"Our thoughts are with the families of Simon and Frank tonight. We are in touch with them and offering them all the support that we can," Sambrook said.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the attack on Cumbers and Gardner, stressing that Britain "will continue to do all we can to support the Saudi authorities in their fight against terrorism."

The attack came nearly one week after 22 people, most of them foreigners, were killed in a shooting rampage and hostage-taking in the eastern Saudi oil hub of Khobar.

The British Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travels to Saudi Arabia, with officials believing terrorists are planning further attacks after the Khobar killings.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2004)