By Lucy Wilkins BBC News Online

For Margaret (not her real name) the decision to leave the country after 12 years has been vindicated.

Her husband booked a flight home within hours of Monday night's attacks on compounds and businesses in the capital, Riyadh.

I spoke to my husband today and he said 'you can't earn your salary when you're dead' Margaret

"This is the beginning of the end. It's no longer safe to be a foreigner there," she told BBC News Online.

Her husband had intended to stay until his contract at Riyadh Bank ended in August, but he will now return to his wife and two sons in Newcastle on Saturday - as long as his exit permit is granted.

"I spoke to him today and he said, 'you can't earn your salary when you're dead'," Margaret explained.

She thinks a lot of other expatriates will also leave Saudi Arabia now.

"Before, you used to get verbally abused. But now, when you're sleeping in your own bed in a compound, you're not safe."

She said many of her friends who left Saudi Arabia during the Iraq war returned in the past couple of weeks and had emailed her to say they were glad to be back.

Their optimism had made her doubt her own decision to leave, but now she is glad she did.

"It's unbelievable now. We're talking about people who are going to blow themselves up. It's way out of control."

Tensions high

Vindy Singh, who moved to Riyadh from Reading, remains undecided about his future there.

We were told to stay inside, not to go to work today, and just to wait for news Vindy Singh

With a three-year-old daughter in the UK, he said he was more worried about his family's concerns than his own safety.

"I've still got to make decisions. If my safety can't be reasonably assured, then I would return.

"I'm out here for the tax-free money, but I am not going to let terrorists drive me out. However, I have to think of my family first."

Mr Singh arrived one year ago, and only on Monday signed a contract as a consultant with a Saudi oil company to take him through to next year.

New chapter

He said tension was "part and parcel" of life in the capital, but had risen during the Iraq war.

However, the bombings were a new chapter. "Before individuals were targeted, but now it's compounds."

On Monday he was woken in the middle of the night by a company manager with news of the attacks.

"We were told to stay inside, not to go to work today, and just to wait for news," Mr Singh said.

There has been much talk among his friends and colleagues recently about how easy a compound would be to target, as the security guards do not provide a large enough deterrent, he said.

The Foreign Office has issued a telephone number for people worried about relatives in Riyadh: 020 7008 0000.

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