RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A French technician who worked on Saudi naval contracts was shot and killed early Sunday in western Saudi Arabia in what his company said may have been a random shooting *1.

Laurent Barbot, an employee of the French defense and electronics group Thales, was slain in the Zahra neighborhood of the port city of Jiddah.

Westerners have been targets of shooting attacks by Islamic militants in the kingdom in the past two years, but authorities were still investigating the motive.

"According to information provided by Thales' employees in Saudi Arabia, Laurent Barbot was a random target. This information will have to be confirmed by the inquiry which is currently taking place," the company said in a statement.

Thales had no plans to leave the kingdom, the company's managing director, Jean-Paul Perrier, told France Info radio.

"We have historical links with Saudi Arabia, important commercial and industrial links, and there's no question of succumbing to panic. We remain in place for the moment," Perrier said.

"We never received any threat," he added. "For several years, we've had important security measures in place and so for us it is a total surprise."

Thales' statement condemned the "horrible murder" of Barbot.

Speaking earlier to The Associated Press in Paris, Perrier said Barbot had worked as a technician on projects for the Saudi navy. Thales carries out maintenance on French military frigates sold to the kingdom.

"For the moment we are still in a state of shock," Perrier said, adding he did known when the body would be repatriated to France.

The Saudi Interior Ministry acknowledged the killing of a French citizen. In a statement quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said authorities were pursuing the incident. The statement did not give any indication of the motive or any other details.

A Saudi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Barbot was shot while driving in the Al-Tarikh area of Jiddah.

With acknowledgement to NewsMax Wires.

*1 He couldn't possibly have been shot just for being a Frenchman?

Not even a disaffected francophobic local partner should do that.

But who knows what they do north of the Tropic of Cancer?