US lawmakers said the massive car bomb blast in Saudi Arabia?s capital showed the oil-rich nation is as much a target of terrorists as the United States and should do more to combat extremism.

Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the operation ?very much? looked like an al Qaeda operation. The Kansas Republican said his committee was briefed about the threat of such an attack in Saudi Arabia ?about a week ago.? ?That?s happened. It signals to that family over there, the Saud family, that (...) they are a target of terrorism,? Roberts said on Fox News Sunday. ?It?s just another example of the global war on terrorism and why this is going to be a long effort,? Roberts said, adding there would undoubtedly be more attacks.

?I don?t think there?s any question about it that, you know, they?re going to be very global in nature,? he said. President Bush called Saudi Arabia?s Crown Prince Abdullah and vowed to stand ?with Saudi Arabia in the war against terrorism,? a White House official said. ?The president expressed his condolences to the people of Saudi Arabia and to the families of those killed,? the official said. Lawmakers from both US political parties have voiced concerns in the past that the Bush administration ignored accusations that the United States? No. 1 crude oil supplier was turning a blind eye to Saudi wealth underwriting al Qaeda and other militant organizations around the world.

?Stop the indirect support of al Qaeda?

Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the blast at the housing compound in Riyadh on Saturday was a wake-up call for the longtime US ally.

?The truth of the matter is maybe this will wake up the Saudi regime one more click and stop the indirect support of al Qaeda (...) and understand this is about international terror against nation states, not just about the United States,? the Delaware Democrat said on CNN?s Late Edition.

He said the Saudi royal family was the original target of al Qaeda and the second deadly bombing within six months should force them to halt the indirect support or training for radical elements. ?This requires an all-out war on their part against the radical extreme elements of Wahhabism,? Biden said. Most Saudis belong to the austere Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam.

Senator Chuck Hagel said though Saudi Arabia had been more cooperative since May suicide bombings killed 35 people in Riyadh, the new attack proved ?there is no question that the Saudis and our other friends in the Middle East are going to have to do more to deal with this.?

Saudi state television said 17 people were killed, five of them children, and 122 injured when suspected al Qaeda bombers blew up an explosive-filled car at the compound housing mostly Arab foreigners.