Investigators hunted for clues on Sunday as to whether al Qaeda was behind the suicide bombing of a Qatar theater that killed a Briton, the first such attack in the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state. The bomber, an Egyptian national, rammed a car laden with explosives into the one-story theater near a British school in the capital Doha during a production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Saturday, officials and witnesses said. An Interior Ministry statement on state media identified the suicide attacker as Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali, who also owned the vehicle. Egypt's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment. An Interior Ministry official earlier said the blast had injured 16, mostly Arabs and Asians. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which came two days after the suspected leader of al Qaeda's wing in Saudi Arabia urged Muslims in Qatar and other Gulf states to wage holy war against "crusaders" in the region. Brigadier General Ahmad al-Hayki said in televised comments that the Interior Ministry was investigating any al Qaeda link. "It is too early to characterize the bombing or to draw any kinds of links or connections," a U.S. embassy spokeswoman said.
A car bomb killed one Briton and wounded at least 12 people on Saturday at a theater frequented by Westerners in Qatar, the command center for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq which began exactly two years ago. "The explosion was caused by a rigged car. One person was killed and 12 were wounded, of whom 10 have left hospital," the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried on the state news agency QNA. The British Foreign Office in London said the dead person was a Briton, and added that the nationality and sex of the wounded were not known. Qatari sources said the attack in the capital Doha was carried out by a suicide bomber -- the first attack of its kind in oil-producing Qatar, which hosts the U.S. military's Central Command. Supporters of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have staged attacks in neighboring Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, but Qatar prides itself on its security and has not experienced suicide bomb attacks before.