Ex-Spokane Man Killed In Saudi Blast Five Americans Among The Dead In Bombing
A former Spokane man was one of six people killed Monday when a bomb ripped through a building filled with U.S. and Saudi military personnel.
Five of the six killed were Americans, as were more than 30 of the 60 people wounded. It is not clear whether the attack was aimed at the Saudis, the Americans or both.
President Clinton pledged “enormous effort” to bring the bombers to justice. He sent a dozen FBI agents and evidence specialists to help investigate what he called “this hideous act.”
The damaged building housed a U.S. program that provides advisers to modernize the Saudi military.
Alaric Brozovsky, 30, a graduate of North Central High School, died in the blast, his sister said.
“I’m shaking,” said Dawn Brozovsky, 39, as she looked at family photos of her brother Monday night at her Spokane home.
She said she learned of her youngest brother’s death from another sibling.
Alaric Brozovsky was the youngest of 11 children and had been working as a civilian buyer in Saudi Arabia for about a year before his death.
Brozovsky left Spokane after high school graduation and visited the city about once a year. Two sisters and his mother remain in Spokane.
He lived in Santa Clara, Calif., with his wife and son before moving to Saudi Arabia about a year ago.
His wife, Diane, had planned to join him in December after finishing school in California, Dawn Brozovsky said.
Diane Brozovsky learned of her husband’s death after making calls to friends and acquaintances in Saudi Arabia, Dawn Brozovsky said. Their 9-year-old son is in Saudi Arabia.
Later, the military officially informed the family of Alaric Brozovsky’s death. The family learned that he had been in the cafeteria where the bomb exploded and had been killed instantly, Dawn Brozovsky said.
Two groups claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, but neither could be verified, said U.S. Ambassador Raymond Mabus. One is the little-known Islamic Change Movement, which demanded last spring that Western forces leave or it would “exert all available means to evict these forces.” The second group is the previously unknown Tigers of the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is a close U.S. ally, and the countries have extensive military ties. But some Muslims oppose the presence of U.S. and other Western forces in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines.
While open opposition to the ruling al-Saud family is not permitted, some underground groups have threatened to strike against the deeply conservative Saudi leadership and Western forces in the country.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman, Jeff Thomas, said late Monday the death toll among Americans had risen to five after a critically injured victim had died in a hospital. He said several Americans are in critical condition but gave no specific figures.
A Pentagon official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 34 Americans were injured and some were taken to hospitals.
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