A FORMER Blackburn College lecturer living in Riyadh today said he will stay put despite Monday's bomb blasts.

Official reports say that around 200 people were injured and 29 killed after suicide bombers targeted the Saudi capital.

Rashed Riaz, 35, had gone to bed at 11.10pm. Five minutes later the windows and doors began to shake violently.

He said: "We thought someone was trying to break in but when I went to the window I could see everyone coming out of their homes. My wife said: 'That's a bomb that's gone off'.

"People were on their mobiles and they said the Alhamra compound, where the British school is, had been bombed.

"It has been really badly hit and we heard that 190 were dead last night.

"It could have been any of us. Any one of the compounds could have been hit."

Despite the terrorist attacks Rashed, who moved to the north of Riyadh in September 2001, and his family, who joined him last May, have no plans to return to East Lancashire.

The family, who still have relatives living in Blackburn, live in one of eight compounds for expatriates including British, Americans, Australians, Germans and French.

Rashed, who is now employed as a maths and physics teacher by Saudi Development and Training, said: "At the residents' meeting they said our compound was on a hit list including all eight. They hit three.

"These things don't seem to bother me though -- I came out here a week after September 11.

"But it is worrying when you have kids.

"My personal feeling now is that the worst is over.

"These things happen but I don't think it will happen in the near future and they have stepped up security."

Rashed's daughters, Anam, eight, and Hiba, seven, have returned to their international school today but American and British schools remained closed.

Rashed was also at home with his wife Nadia, 29, and their two-year-old son Ali, after bosses told him not to make the 13-mile journey into the city centre.

He said: "I want the kids to carry on as normal. At the moment we have no plans to return to East Lancashire but we will follow the instructions of the British Consul.

"If they say they would like us to move out then we would."