AL-KHOBAR,
Saudi Arabia, May 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Militants
linked to Al-Qaeda gunned down Saturday, May 29, at least nine Saudis
and seven foreigners in a spree of attacks in eastern Saudi Arabia,
before taking several people hostage.
Saudi
security sources said an American, a Briton, an Egyptian, two
Filipinos, an Indian and a Pakistani died in the attacks on
foreigners' compounds in the eastern city of Khobar, reported Reuters.
The
sources also added that two Saudi civilians and seven security force
members also died in the attack.
"We
can confirm one American was killed" in the attacks, U.S. embassy
spokesman in Riyadh, Robert Keith, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
did not provide details about the identity of the slain American or
the circumstances of his death.
Al-Arabiya
aired footage of a man with Western features, slumped in his car,
apparently shot dead by the gunmen. It showed a charred car and a
third blood-spattered vehicle.
Saudi
troops and security forces earlier laid siege to a compound where
gunmen are believed to be holding unspecified number of people
hostages, an AFP correspondent said from the scene.
Army
troops and members of the special security forces were seen entering
the Oasis housing complex as others surrounded the housing facility
comprising several buildings, and the crackle of gunfire could be
heard intermittently.
Five
Lebanese who were among the hostages were later freed, according to
the Lebanese Ambassador in Riyadh, Ahmad al-Mashat.
"The
five Lebanese have been freed, but we still don't know the
circumstances of their release," he said.
Five
gunmen, dressed in military uniforms, had opened fire at Al-Khobar
Petroleum Center building, believed to house offices of major Western
oil companies.
They
later stormed into three compounds housing oil-services offices and
residential homes of employees working there.
The
gunmen went into the Rami and Oasis housing compounds, where some of
the employees working for Shell, Honeywell and General Electric, live
and took an unspecified number of people hostage.
According
to Reuters, the five-star Oasis residence has housed executives from
oil majors Royal Dutch/Shell, Total and LUKOIL who are carrying out
gas projects in the kingdom.
Responsibility
Claim
 |
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A man with Western features gunned down inside his car
|
The
Al-Qaeda claim of responsibility came in a statement received by
e-mail, according to AFP.
The
statement, signed by Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula,
said that members of Al-Quds squad raided offices of American
companies "plundering the Muslims' resources."
It
suggested that the assault against the facilities "affiliated to
the U.S. occupation company Halliburton" was ongoing.
Al-Qaeda
and affiliates have often claimed responsibility in similar statements
for the past year's campaign of terror in he kingdom which have left
some 65 people dead and hundreds injured.
A
statement purported to be from the network's chief in Saudi Arabia,
Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, said an Al-Qaeda cell carried out a May 1
shooting rampage at a petrochemical plant in the industrial port of
Yanbu which left six Westerners dead.
As
in the aftermath of the Yanbu carnage, Saturday's bloodshed seemed
likely to provoke a new surge in oil prices that had already closed
higher Friday amid fears of unwelcome developments over the weekend.
It
followed a statement purported to be from Muqrin and posted on an
Islamist website Thursday which urged followers to wage an urban
guerrilla war of assassinations, kidnappings and bombings.
He
tops the list of wanted suspects, which has come down to 18 since it
was released amid a relentless crackdown by security forces on
suspected Al-Qaeda sympathizers.
In
mid-April, the U.S. ordered its non-essential diplomats in Saudi
Arabia to leave and urged U.S. citizens in the kingdom, who numbered
about 30,000, to depart.
