Vinnell's Riyadh compound, site of Monday's bombing, houses employees and their families.
<bt>An apparent terrorist attack on three housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia late Monday claimed the life of nine Northrop Grumman employees. Of the nine employees killed, seven were Americans and two were citizens of the Philippines, the company confirmed.
Late Tuesday, Northrop Grumman Corporation confirmed that nine employees of its Reston-based Vinnell Corporation subsidiary were killed at its company facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Identities of the deceased were not disclosed and the families of those employees have been notified, according to the company.
A residential and office facility used by employees of Vinnell Arabia was one of the three compounds attacked, stated Northrup Grumman spokesman Jay McCaffrey in a release. Fifteen employees remain hospitalized, two in serious condition.
"We are deeply shocked by this senseless attack and mourn the loss of our colleagues," stated Donald C. Winter, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, in a release. "All of us at Northrop Grumman extend our deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones."
Early Tuesday, the company was still scrambling to find out information about its employees. "It is a very fluid situation right now," said McCaffrey. "We know that there are a number of injuries and we are monitoring the situation."
According to the Associated Press, there were at least 20 fatalities and 50 casualties, as of Tuesday afternoon. The injured were taken to the nearby National Guard Hospital, according to the AP.
Vinnell, a subsidiary of Reston-based Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, a sector of Northrop Grumman, has 800 employees working on a project in the country's capital city of Riyadh, McCaffrey said. There was a "fraction" of the total employees near the site of the Monday night blasts.
"All we know is that there was an apparent terrorist attack on a housing compound that housed the employees of Vinnell Corporation that work in Saudi Arabia," McCaffrey said. "It is very somber around here. Obviously, this is not something that you experience every day, thank God."
Of the 800 employees, 300 are United States citizens, the majority are Saudi nationals, the spokesman said. McCaffrey did not know how many of the employees are from Northern Virginia.
Vinnell, formerly a subsidiary of TRW, is under contract with the United States Army to train the Saudi Arabian National Guard.