Posted on 05/30/2004 9:43:59 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (AP) -
Saudi commandos in helicopters stormed an expatriate resort early Sunday to free hostages seized by suspected al-Qaida gunmen in an attack on the kingdom's vital oil industry that killed 22 people - mostly foreigners including one American.
The 25-hour attack started Saturday in the Persian Gulf coast city of Khobar when militants went on shooting rampage at two oil industry compounds before moving up the street to the upscale Oasis resort and taking hostages.
In an audio tape posted Sunday on Islamic Web sites, a speaker identified as Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin, al-Qaida's chief in the Saudi region, said the deadly rampage was part of a campaign to drive "crusaders" from "the land of Islam." The speaker also said an American's body was dragged through the streets.
The attack, the second deadly assault this month against the Saudi oil industry, marked another challenge to Saudi efforts to crackdown on Islamic militants. There also were concerns the attack could drive up oil prices, already at new highs in part because of fears the Saudi kingdom - the world's largest oil producer - is unable to protect itself from terrorism.
Most of the dead were among the expatriate workers the Saudi kingdom relies on to run its oil industry and other sectors.
Besides the American, they included a Briton, an Italian, a Swede, a South African, an Egyptian, two Sri Lankans, three Filipinos and eight Indians, the Interior Ministry said in a statement read on Saudi television. Three Saudis also were killed.
It was unclear how many of the dead were killed in the initial shootout and how many had been hostages.
The statement said Saudi forces had evacuated 241 people of different nationalities from the Oasis complex. It said one of the assailants was wounded and captured, but that three - one of them wounded - escaped.
The attack started when as many as seven militants in military-style dress opened fire inside two compounds housing international oil industry firms at around 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
They fled up the street to the Oasis Residential Resort, an upscale complex with shops, restaurants, a private waterfront and an ice-skating rink. The gunmen apparently tried to target Westerners and avoid harming Muslims, according to Oasis residents and employees.
At the start of the hostage crisis, Saudi security forces stormed the walled complex and surrounded the attackers on the sixth floor of a high-rise building. Those forces tried to reach the hostages during the night, they said, but found booby traps.
Just after sunrise, three helicopters dropped Saudi commandos into the compound. Gunfire, heard sporadically overnight, rang out again. Within a few hours, the standoff was over.
In the purported al-Qaida claims, the statement attributed to al-Moqrin rails against the Saudi government, accusing it of opening the country to Americans and providing "America with oil at the cheapest prices according to their masters' wish, so that their economy does not collapse."
The speaker says the struggle with America would be pursued "in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan, in Iraq" and that the battle with the Saudi government will continue until the "crusaders are expelled from the land of Islam."
As the initial shooting rampage was under way, a statement posted on 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.
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the purported claims. Osama bin Laden, blamed for past terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, has vowed to destabilize the Saudi kingdom for its close ties to the United States.
Several Saudi newspapers reported Sunday that the attackers threw at least one body from the Oasis building where they were holed up and mutilated some of the bodies of those killed.
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, the station, giving no attribution.
Michael Rothman, chief energy strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, said "a limited psychological reaction" might occur 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 a car bumper.
At the Oasis, the militants indicated they were trying to separate Muslims from non-Muslims. Lebanon's ambassador said five Lebanese hostages were freed, and Oasis residents and employees said militants asked them if they were Muslim. Militants have been criticized in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.
Abu Hashem, a 45-year-old Iraqi-American engineer, said four gunmen - lightly bearded Saudi men who looked 18 to 25 years old - asked for his residency papers.
"They said, 'You are American,' and I told them I am an American Muslim. They said, 'We do not kill Muslims,'" They then apologized for breaking into his home.
Abdul Salam al-Hakawati, a 38-year-old Lebanese corporate financial officer, said gunmen rummaging around his family residence said, "This is a Muslim house" - apparently seeing framed Quranic verses on the walls.
He said a man in his early 20s, carrying a machine gun and wearing an ammunition belt, told him: "We only want to hurt Westerners and Americans. Can you tell us where we can find them here?"
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 various international firms.
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. It was not clear if other companies in the center had accounted for all their employees.
Saudi Arabia launched a high-profile crackdown on terrorists after attacks on Riyadh housing compounds in 2003. The most recent terror 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. Many expatriates left the kingdom after the Yanbu attack.
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How did three escape? Were they "let go" as part of the agreement?
Also, they were shaven. They aren't usually shaven.
Looks like it's getting ugly over there. The Saudis are not going to get this thing under control until they get the mosques to stop preaching hate. As long as Friday prayer service sounds like a call to arms, the country is in severe danger.
If the commandos and the cops REALLY had the scene secured, how did the bad guys get away???
I heard on the radio that the Swede, and I believe an Italian tried to escape and the terrorists cut their throats.
Prayers for the families of these people.
Props to the Saudi commandos for their bravery.
They are known to share their entire bodies when commiting one of their "holy acts" such as kill Christians and Jews.
That's the question asked by one man on Fox. He wondered if by the three escaping, maybe they were "let go" as part of the agreement. I'm not sure, but I have a lot of questions myself.
Some of the gunmen were also killed. So......more questions even though three escaped or let go.
I, too, pray for their families and the civilians that got caught up in this and were killed.
Oh! You mean SHAVE!!! Ok. I have very little knowledge of their beliefs and traditions.
Funny someone on Fox didn't step in and clear the air on that one!
Thanks TrueBeliever!!
Very Ugly!
'We do not kill Muslims,'?
Lying bastards !! They Kill EVERYONE
Gee, I hope the Saudis observe all the rights of those they question regarding this incident.
I don't know why really, but more and more I see this
not as a struggle for control of oil but for control of
the Holy cities.
I think anyone who escaped or was let go, will be captured and killed. The Saudis aren't going to let anyone off.
Punishment will be swift and lethal.
Apparently these terrorists were picky.
I think the fact that the Saudis took action here is encouraging. I may be the only one that does not think oil will be up big. The Saudis now need to come out and say they will be increasing their output beyond what was previously stated. Clearly, had this happened when the US markets were open it would have caused all kinds of heck.
tet68 wrote:
I don't know why really, but more and more I see this
not as a struggle for control of oil but for control of
the Holy cities.
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