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'Second Briton dead' in Saudi siege Officials were investigating reports that a second Briton had died in a bloody 24-hour siege in Saudi Arabia. Earlier it was confirmed that a British oil executive had been shot dead at the start of the siege. Gunmen held up to 50 people hostage in a residential compound after attacking the offices of two oil companies in the eastern city of Al Khobar. It ended with security forces storming the militants' stronghold. The gunmen were initially believed to have killed 22 people - eight Indians, three Filipinos, three Saudis, two Sri Lankans, an American,...

Al-Qaeda is changing its tactics. After targeting Western expatriates and security forces in the first phase of its terrorist attacks in the Kingdom, it has now turned its attention to oil companies and could later go for urban guerrilla war as part of its strategy to destabilize the Kingdom, according to a Saudi political scientist. Dr. Abdullah Al-Otaibi, assistant professor of political science at King Saud University, told Arab News the May 1 attack on a petrochemical complex in Yanbu followed by Saturday’s shootout in Alkhobar’s APICORP Compound showed a consistent pattern. Al-Qaeda terrorists “are out to strike against the...

THE 22 who died came from diverse backgrounds but held a common interest: a fascination with Saudi Arabia and the advantages that the Kindgom offered both financially and personally. They also shared in common their deaths at the hands of suspected terrorists. One man was asked to stay on the job instead of retiring, to see the company through another two years. Another lived in the Kingdom most of his adult life. Another was a loyal driver who died with his boss. On Sunday, family, friends and colleagues helped the Saudi Gazette piece together a picture of some of the...