Bloody end to siege in Saudi Arabia

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Saudi Arabian commandos ended a 24-hour siege at a western housing compound in Khobar on Sunday, freeing scores of hostages trapped after the second attack in a month by Islamist militants on the kingdom's oil industry.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said on Sunday night that 22 civilians, all but three of them foreigners, had died in the attack, claimed via an Islamist web site on behalf of "The Qaeda organisation in the Arabian peninsula".

The leader of the gunmen was captured, but three of the attackers escaped, using hostages as shields, the ministry said. Saudi security and diplomatic officials said the Islamists earlier murdered nine hostages.

The attack in Khobar, in Eastern Province, was the latest in a series of violent actions against the Saudi regime, its oil industry and westerners based in the country aimed by al-Qaeda at de-stabilising the Saudi monarchy and international oil markets.

In Washington, Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, said the attack appeared to have the intent of "breaking up the Saudi oil relationship with the US. Six million expatriates essentially run (the Saudi oil) industry," he told Fox News Sunday. "This could be very severe."

Crown Prince Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler, vowed to crush "this corrupt and deviant group" in Saudi society, warning that "those who keep silent about the terrorists will be regarded as belonging to them".

Britain's ambassador in Riyadh warned that more attacks "may be in the final stages of preparation". The US and Britain warned their citizens to leave the country or avoid all but essential travel.

The assault in Khobar followed a similar attack on May 1 at Yanbu, a giant petrochemical complex on the Red Sea coast. It came just after Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, pledged to increase output by about 10 per cent to ease soaring world oil prices, and a week ahead of a meeting in Beirut of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries to consider raising production limits. Eastern Province contains most of Saudi's crude reserves.

The attack began on Saturday at 7.30am, when gunmen opened fire on two office blocks housing companies such as Halliburton and Royal Dutch/Shell, which operate in the kingdom as subcontracting partners of Saudi Aramco, the state oil company.

Security guards were overwhelmed and several foreigners, including a 10-year-old Egyptian boy, who died in a blazing minibus, were killed. Witnesses said the body of one man, believed to be British, was dragged along the Damman-Khobar highway before being thrown over a bridge.

The attack turned into a siege when the gunmen took over an apartment block in the Oasis residential compound, trapping residents. The siege ended early on Sunday after commandos landed on the roof by helicopter.

Saudi officials said the decision was taken after the gunmen started killing hostages. Seven US military officials were among the 41 hostages released. Witnesses said the Islamists sought out Christian "infidels", killing them as they went.

The supposed al-Qaeda statement was signed by Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, identified by Saudi authorities as al-Qaeda's top leader in the kingdom. Last week he called for an uprising to overthrow the ruling al-Saud family.

Multiple suicide attacks on foreign compounds in the capital Riyadh in May and November last year killed 52 people.

David Gardner in Riyadh