Foreigners will stay in KSA despite risks

Powell's remarks in an interview on the Radio America network flew in the face of the advice of his own department, which "strongly urges" Americans to abandon the world's largest oil exporter because of the threat of kidnappings, suicide bombings and other attacks on Westerners.

"If they leave, then the terrorists have won," Powell said in the interview shortly after news of Johnson's death in Riyadh.

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"And I don't think either the Saudis, the Americans or these brave folks who work in Saudi Arabia want the terrorists to win."

Powell said oil companies operating in the kingdom were bolstering their security and intelligence was being gathered on militants, which should reassure foreign oil workers.

"The people who are there have a pretty good understanding of the risks they are taking being there. And they tend to be sort of wildcatting kinds of folks in the oil industry," he said.

Hours earlier the State Department extended its warning about possible al-Qaeda attacks against Westerners and oil workers in Saudi Arabia to the entire Gulf region.

"The US government has received information that extremists may be planning to carry out attacks against Westerners and oil workers in the Persian Gulf region, beyond Saudi Arabia," the State Department said.

The department on Thursday issued a "travel warning" telling Americans to defer travel to Saudi Arabia. "Private American citizens currently in Saudi Arabia are strongly urged to depart," it said.