Official: Hostages Freed in Saudi Arabia ( 7 Americans freed )

Suspected Islamic militants sprayed gunfire inside two office compounds in the heart of the Saudi oil region Saturday, killing at least 10 people - including an American - and then holding dozens of hostages in a day-long standoff with police. The hostages - mostly Americans and Europeans - were released early Sunday and a gunmen believed to be the lead Islamic militant holding them was arrested, a Saudi security official said, adding that two other gunmen were "in the process of being arrested."

It was unclear whether they had surrendered or if police had raided the six-story building where they were holed up in the city of Khobar. Commandos were seen leaping onto the rooftop from a helicopter earlier in the morning, and gunfire had been heard.

The Saudi security official would not comment on the whereabouts or conditions of the hostages, saying only: "It has ended. One has been arrested and two are in the process of being arrested - they are surrounded."

A soldier at the scene said the two gunmen who had not been apprehended were on two floors that troops had not yet reached.

Reporters were kept back from the compound, but a green bus carrying Saudi troops as well as some police cars and ambulances could be seen pulling out it; they did not appear rushed or use sirens.

The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, told Fox News that seven Americans had been freed and that two of them were wounded. It was unclear when they had been freed.

Security officials had said between 45 and 60 people were held hostage in the building, which is located in the city's walled Oasis Residential Resorts complex.

The attack started Saturday morning as the gunmen stormed two oil industry compounds housing offices and employee apartments.

Guards at the compounds said four gunmen wearing military-style dress opened fire and engaged in a shootout with Saudi security forces before fleeing up the street to the Oasis, a vast complex containing apartments and hotels.

Several Saudi newspapers reported Sunday that the attackers threw at least one body from the building where they were holed up and had mutilated some of the bodies of those they killed.

The Arab News newspaper said the gunmen dragged a body behind a car, mirroring an attack earlier this month in western Saudi Arabia. Gunmen in that attack had dragged the body of an American victim from the bumper of their car.

The pan-Arab satellite television network Al-Arabiya showed the body of a man, apparently shot dead, in the driver's seat of a car and the burned-out frame of a sport utility vehicle. Bullet holes were visible in other vehicles, some with windows smashed and blood staining the seats.

A statement posted on several Islamic Web sites claimed the attack in the name of the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigade but was signed the "al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula." It said the attacks targeted U.S. companies and that a number of "crusaders" had been killed.

"These terrorists have no respect for human life and no regard for the principles of Islam," he said in a written statement.

The attack in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh, was the second deadly assault this month against the Saudi oil industry and came amid oil prices driven to new highs partly by fears that the Saudi kingdom is unable to protect itself from terrorists.

Osama bin Laden, blamed for past terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, has vowed to destabilize the oil industry and the Saudi royal family for its close ties to the United States.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said about 10 Saudis and foreigners were killed in the Khobar attack. The Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, quoting security officials in its Sunday edition, put the number dead at 16, including seven Saudi security agents.

An American man, a 10-year-old Egyptian boy and three Filipinos were among those confirmed killed. British citizens and Saudi guards were also reportedly among the dead.

According to Oasis residents and an employee, the militants asked questions when they arrived that indicated they were trying to separate Muslims from non-Muslims. Islamic militants have been criticized in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.

Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told The Associated Press that five Lebanese hostages had been released.

One of them, Orora Naoufal, said she cowered in her apartment with her four-year-old son for five hours after a brief encounter with two of the gunmen, whom she described as clean-shaven and wearing military uniforms.

She told AP by telephone that the gunmen asked her where the "infidels" and foreigners were, and whether she was Muslim or Christian,

"I replied: 'I am Lebanese and there are no foreigners here.'" She said the gunmen told her to "Go convert to Islam, and cover up and go back to your country."

One of the targeted oil industry compounds contains offices and apartments for the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation, or Apicorp, and the other - the Petroleum Center building - houses offices of various international firms.

A civilian car had slammed into a sign outside the Apicorp compound, and there was a burned car at the entrance and glass shards on the ground. Witnesses earlier said at least 10 ambulances were outside the Oasis, and that hundreds of policemen had surrounded the complex with helicopters overhead.

In addition to Apicorp, oil industry companies with offices in the compounds include a joint venture among Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Total SA and Saudi Aramco; Lukoil Holdings of Russia; and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec.

The Egyptian boy who was killed was the son of an Apicorp employee, said Mahmoud Ouf, an Egyptian consular officer in Riyadh.

Egypt's Middle East News Agency quoted his father, Samir, as saying his son was on his way to school with other students. "The terrorists opened heavy fire on the car, killing Rami and setting fire to the car," his father said, adding that his daughter ran from the car uninjured.

Employees from the other companies were safe, Shell spokesman Simon Buerk and a Saudi oil industry official, Yahya Shinawi, told AP by telephone.

Other companies believed to be in the compounds included Schlumberger, based in Houston, Texas, and Aveva, of Cambridge, England. There was no immediate word on their employees. Kelly Ray, spokeswoman for INOVx, which had been believed to have offices in the compounds, said the company's offices in Saudi Arabia closed in 2001 and it no longer had any employees there.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said an American man who worked for an oil company was confirmed dead, but did not identify him or his employer. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said two Americans were wounded.

Casey said the State Department has not upgraded its travel warning but noted that it was already about as tough as it could get. It is still recommending that Americans defer all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia and that those there consider leaving immediately.

The attack came as Saudi Arabia, OPEC's most powerful member, is urging the group to boost oil production to try to reduce the high cost of crude.

Peter Gignoux, a London-based oil adviser for GDP Associates in New York, said news of the attacks might trigger a further rise in oil prices but noted that oil facilities were unaffected.

In London, the British Foreign Office was investigating reports that a British citizen was killed. Philippines officials in Manila said they were checking unconfirmed reports that three Filipinos were among the dead.

Saudi Arabia launched a high-profile crackdown on terrorists after attacks on Riyadh housing compounds in 2003, and claims to have foiled dozens of terror plots in the kingdom.

The most recent attack targeted the offices of Houston-based ABB Lummus Global Inc. in the western city of Yanbu on May 1, killing six Westerners and a Saudi.

Saudi Arabia relies heavily on 6 million expatriate workers, including about 30,000 Americans, to run its oil industry and other sectors. The kingdom produces about 8 million barrels of oil a day.

Thanks. Here is the latest AP report from the Las Vegas SUN:

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Today: May 30, 2004 at 3:31:41 PDT

Standoff Ends After Deadly Saudi Attack

By DONNA ABU-NASR
ASSOCIATED PRESS

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) -

Saudi forces freed dozens of American and other foreign hostages Sunday after a shooting rampage turned into a daylong standoff with Islamic militants at an expatriate resort. A Saudi security official said the lead attacker was in custody and two other suspects were being arrested.

Saudi officials would not comment on the condition of the hostages. However, a diplomat in Khobar said officials told him there were deaths among the hostages and attackers. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said he did not know how many hostages were dead, but was informed that two gunmen were killed.

At least 10 others - including an American - died in the attack claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group that began Saturday morning when gunmen in military-style dress opened fire on security forces at two oil industry compounds in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh.

The assailants - believed to number up to seven - then fled up the street, taking some 45-60 hostages in a high-rise housing mainly foreigners.

Before the release, Saudi security forces had stormed the walled housing compound and surrounded the attackers on the sixth floor of a building. A security official said one attempt during the night to storm the building where the hostages were being held was abandoned after booby traps were discovered.

But just after sunrise, three security forces helicopters arrived and dropped off commandos. Gunfire, heard sporadically overnight, rang out again. Within a few hours, the standoff was over.

"It has ended. One has been arrested and two are in the process of being arrested - they are surrounded," said a Saudi official, who declined to be named.

The attack was the second deadly assault this month against the Saudi oil industry and came amid oil prices driven to new highs partly by fears that the Saudi kingdom - the world's largest oil producer - is unable to protect itself from terrorists.

Osama bin Laden, blamed for past terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, has vowed to destabilize the oil industry and undermine the kingdom for its close ties to the United States.

Several Saudi newspapers reported Sunday that the attackers threw at least one body from the building where they were holed up and had mutilated some of the bodies of those they killed.

Reporters were kept back from the compound, but a bus carrying Saudi troops and other police and military vehicles could be seen pulling out. As forces withdrew, a Saudi soldier flashed a V-for-victory sign from the window of his gun-mounted vehicle.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said an American man who worked for an oil company was confirmed dead, but did not identify him or his employer. The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia reiterated a call to its citizens to leave the kingdom.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said about 10 Saudis and foreigners were killed in the attack. The Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, quoting security officials, put the number dead at 16, including seven Saudi security agents. An American man, a British oil executive, a 10-year-old Egyptian boy and three Filipinos were among those confirmed killed. A Swedish citizen and Saudi guards were also reportedly among the dead.

In London, the Foreign Office confirmed Sunday that oil executive Michael Hamilton died during the shooting and urged British citizens to avoid all but essential travel to Saudi Arabia.

A statement posted on several Islamic Web sites claimed the attack in the name of the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigade and was signed the "al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula." It said the attacks targeted U.S. companies and that a number of "crusaders" had been killed.

One Saudi official security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the method of the attack was "definitely inspired by al-Qaida."

"The terrorists' goal is to disrupt the Saudi economy and destabilize our country. But they will not succeed," Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan said in a statement released in Washington. "With every desperate act of violence, our effort and resolve to destroy the terrorists only grows."

The Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya reported the Saudi oil minister met with oil executives to assure them that the attack would not affect oil supplies. He planned to meet ambassadors on Sunday for the same purpose, the station said without attribution.

Michael Rothman, chief energy strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, said there might be "a limited psychological reaction" in oil markets but that the Khobar attack would not affect supply.

The Arab News, quoting witnesses, said the attackers dragged the body of an unidentified victim behind their car along a highway. Gunmen who attacked an oil contractor's office in western Saudi Arabia earlier this month dragged the body of an American victim from the bumper of their car.

According to residents and employees of the Oasis Residential Resorts, where the hostage-taking occurred, the militants asked questions when they arrived that indicated they were trying to separate Muslims from non-Muslims. Islamic militants have been criticized in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.

Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told The Associated Press that five Lebanese hostages had been released.

One of them, Orora Naoufal, said she cowered in her apartment with her 4-year-old son for five hours after a brief encounter with two of the gunmen, whom she described as clean-shaven and wearing military uniforms.

She told AP by telephone that the gunmen asked her where the "infidels" and foreigners were, and whether she was Muslim or Christian.

"I replied: 'I am Lebanese and there are no foreigners here.'" She said the gunmen told her to "Go convert to Islam, and cover up and go back to your country."

The Oasis compound is upscale expatriate housing that includes neighborhood necessities - shops, restaurants, playgrounds, fitness centers - in addition to a hotel and leisurely extras such as a grassy beach in a private Gulf cove and an ice-skating rink, according to the compound's Web site.

The Egyptian boy who was killed was the son of an Apicorp employee, said Mahmoud Ouf, an Egyptian consular officer in Riyadh. Apicorp, in a brief statement published in the Saudi newspaper Al-Jazirah on Sunday, said three of its employees were among the dead. Apicorp is the investment arm of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Countries.

Offices at the Petroleum Center include a joint venture among Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Total SA and Saudi Aramco; Lukoil Holdings of Russia; and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec. All of those employees were safe, said Shell spokesman Simon Buerk and a Saudi oil industry official, Yahya Shinawi, though it wasn't clear whether other companies had accounted for all their employees.

Saudi Arabia relies heavily on 6 million expatriate workers to run its oil industry and other sectors. The kingdom produces about 8 million barrels of oil a day.

Saudi Arabia launched a high-profile crackdown on terrorists after attacks on Riyadh housing compounds in 2003. The most recent attack targeted the offices of Houston, Texas-based ABB Lummus Global Inc. in the western city of Yanbu on May 1, killing six Westerners and a Saudi. Many expatriates left after the Yanbu attack.

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