F'ers!!!!
An Arabian television channel has reported that the US hostage held by a group claiming allegiance to al Qaeda has been beheaded.
The captors had threatened to kill engineer Paul Johnson unless the Saudi government released jailed militants.
The report of Mr Johnson's murder was carried by the al Arabiya channel.
The kidnappers posted a statement on the internet earlier this week with a video showing a blindfolded man identifying himself as Mr Johnson.
In the statement, they said: "If the tyrants of the Saudi government want their master, Paul Marshall Johnson, to be released, they must release the mujahedin held in the prisons in Haer, Ar-Ruwais and Allecha within 72 hours.
"Otherwise, we will execute him to avenge our Muslim brothers whose blood has been spilled in several parts (of the world)."
The US State Department has advised US citizens to not to travel to the world's largest oil exporter and "strongly urged" those already there to leave immediately.
Attacks on foreigners chiefly blamed on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network have heightened fears about security in Saudi Arabia and helped push world oil prices to record highs before producers pledged to raise output.