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Pah-Wraith
Sheikh
Joined: 30 Nov 2001
Posts: 6012
Location: Londonistan.
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 Sat May 29, 2004 6:00 am Saudi Militants Kill 5 Foreigners |
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| Reuters News wrote: | Saudi militants kill five foreigners
By Samia Nakhoul
RIYADH (Reuters) - Islamist militants have stormed four expatriate compounds in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar, killing five foreigners and taking an unspecified number of people hostage.
A statement purportedly from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda posted on Islamists Web sites claimed responsibility for the Saturday attacks. The group blamed for the September 11 attacks in the United States has vowed to de-stabilise the U.S.-allied monarchy and world's leading oil exporter.
The attack, apparently targeting Saudi Arabia's oil industry, came two days after a top al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia issued a battle plan for an urban guerrilla war in the kingdom, specifying steps militants need to take to succeed in a campaign to topple the Saudi royal family.
It was the third attack against foreigners in less than a month in the world's leading oil exporter, birthplace of Islam and home to some of its most important sites.
Security sources said militants first opened fire at the Al-Khobar Petroleum Centre building, believed to house offices of major Western oil companies, before storming into three compounds housing oil-services offices and residential homes of employees working there.
The militants, estimated at five, then went into the Rami and Oasis housing compounds, where the hostages were being held at the Oasis compound. Some employees working for the oil company Shell, Honeywell and General Electric lived in one of the compounds.
Police have besieged the area.
"This is clearly targeting the oil sector" said a senior Western executive in the capital Riyadh.
"Gunmen are still on the loose. People are staying in their homes, keeping their heads down. Nobody can give a final figure on the deaths," a Western diplomat told Reuters.
Witnesses said two cars with military markings drove into the Apicorp complex where witnesses saw people shoot dead a nine-year-old and an Egyptian expatriate.
OIL OUTPUT INCREASE
The attack on the kingdom's main oil producing region happened a week after Saudi Arabia gave a commitment to increase oil output by 10 percent in a bid to stabilise spiralling international oil prices and also came ahead of a crucial OPEC meeting in Beirut next week.
Earlier this month, militants killed five foreigners in an unprecedented attack on a petrochemical site in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea town of Yanbu. A German was also shot dead in a shopping district in eastern Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia's top al Qaeda leader Abdulaziz al-Muqrin claimed responsibility for the Yanbu shooting in which militants dragged the corpse of one American through the streets.
He has also vowed deadlier attacks in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states. Saudi militants claimed a suicide bombing in April on a security forces' headquarters.
Oil markets have been on edge over the possibility of a strike on oil facilities in the kingdom, the world's biggest crude exporter, that would disrupt supplies.
Saudi security forces have arrested or gunned down at least eight of the country's 26 most wanted militants, but their defiance of the crackdown has raised questions about security.
Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah has pledged to hunt down militants for "decades" if needed and urged mosque preachers to support security forces.
The oil-rich kingdom, a pivotal U.S. ally, has been battling a tide of Muslim militancy linked to al Qaeda, believed to be behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
A string of al Qaeda-linked suicide bombings in Riyadh last year killed 50 people, including nine Americans.
Anti-Western sentiment in the kingdom has also been fuelled by images carried by Arab media of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi prisoners and Israeli tanks razing Palestinian homes.
Last month the U.S. embassy strongly urged its citizens to leave Saudi Arabia. |
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Oliver
Thought Maker
Joined: 28 Feb 2004
Posts: 6096
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
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| Sat May 29, 2004 1:04 pm |
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I lived in Al-Khobar for 10 years! However, I didn't recognize anything from what I saw on TV. Too long ago I guess...
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Sat May 29, 2004 3:50 pm |
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Okay, here's some big, bad news that's gotten me up & at it, so to speak.
| Quote: | KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia � Suspected Islamic militants sprayed gunfire inside two oil industry compounds on the Persian Gulf, killing at least 10 people � including one American � before taking at least 50 hostages at an expatriate residential complex.
Saudi security forces seeking to kill or capture the militants stormed the walled, waterfront Oasis complex, where a housing manager said 50 hostages were still being held including Americans, Italians and Arabs.
A police officer at the scene told The Associated Press that Saudi forces had surrounded the attackers on the sixth floor of a high-rise building inside the luxurious compound.
The kingdom's Crown Prince Abdullah (search) said about 10 Saudis and foreigners had been killed in shooting rampage. British and Filipino citizens and Saudi guards were reportedly among the dead, as well as a 10-year-old Egyptian boy whose father works for an oil company.
It was the second deadly assault this month targeting the oil industry in Saudi Arabia, and there were signs the militants might be linked to Al Qaeda (search). Previous terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have been blamed on Osama bin Laden's network, which has vowed to undermine the Saudi kingdom for its close ties to the United States.
While oil supply and export facilities were unaffected, analysts said Saturday's attack could further raise oil prices, already driven to new highs partly by fears that Saudi Arabia � the world's largest oil producer � is unable to protect its oil industry from terrorists.
In Washington, a CIA spokesperson said the agency had no immediate information about the identity of the militants. But a Saudi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the method of the attack was "definitely inspired by Al Qaeda."
Earlier, a statement on an Islamic Web site apparently referred to the attacks under the title, "A gift to al-Moqrin and his heroic brothers" � a reference to AbdulAziz al-Moqrin, believed to lead Al Qaeda operations on the Arabian Peninsula. The text was deleted, however, and it was unclear if the posting was a claim of responsibility.
Another Islamic Web site offered a link to "an early statement from holy warriors in the Arabian Peninsula about al-Khobar operation." That statement also was inaccessible.
The shooting rampage started Saturday morning in the city of Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh (search). Guards at the oil industry compounds said four gunmen in military-style dress opened fire and engaged in a shootout with Saudi security forces before fleeing up the street to the Oasis.
One of the oil industry compounds contains offices and apartments for the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation, or Apicorp (search), and the other � the Petroleum Center building � houses offices of various international firms.
Journalists were turned away from the compounds and kept back from the Oasis, where hundreds of Saudi security forces were trying to capture or kill the militants. Saudi forces had fired shots inside the compound, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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 and INOVx, both based in Houston, and Aveva, of Cambridge, England. There was no immediate word on their employees.
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.
Michael Rothman, chief energy strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, also said there might be "a limited psychological reaction" in oil markets but that the attack would not affect supply.
Official Saudi reports said only that "militants" had "randomly opened fire" at about 7:30 a.m. and killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. A statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency said security forces had surrounded the militants inside a building in the residential complex and that "they are currently being dealt with."
The U.S. Embassy said one American was confirmed dead, and in Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said two Americans were wounded.
The British Foreign Office in London 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.
Witnesses said the bodies of three men with Western features had been lying on the ground covered with newspapers until ambulances took them away.
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.
Two security guards were believed to be dead, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately clear how many people total had been taken hostage. Earlier, Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told AP that five Lebanese hostages had been released. He did not know the nationalities of others who might have been taken captive.
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.
Many expatriates decided to leave, at least temporarily, after the Yanbu attack. Then, U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter advised Americans to leave the country � a move criticized by Saudi officials.
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Troubling. Oh so troubling...
But doesn't this go to show that this is a global war on terror--World War III--and that the entire world will soon be involved. Saudi Arabia has supported Al Queda (and the Royal family supports the US), and even though it is an ARAB country, Islamic Extremests will attack them. They will stop at nothing for success, even killing people of their OWN beliefs--then how is this a Holy War?
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Pah-Wraith
Sheikh
Joined: 30 Nov 2001
Posts: 6012
Location: Londonistan.
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| Sat May 29, 2004 4:01 pm |
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| Republican_Man wrote: | Okay, here's some big, bad news that's gotten me up & at it, so to speak.
| Quote: | KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia � Suspected Islamic militants sprayed gunfire inside two oil industry compounds on the Persian Gulf, killing at least 10 people � including one American � before taking at least 50 hostages at an expatriate residential complex.
Saudi security forces seeking to kill or capture the militants stormed the walled, waterfront Oasis complex, where a housing manager said 50 hostages were still being held including Americans, Italians and Arabs.
A police officer at the scene told The Associated Press that Saudi forces had surrounded the attackers on the sixth floor of a high-rise building inside the luxurious compound.
The kingdom's Crown Prince Abdullah (search) said about 10 Saudis and foreigners had been killed in shooting rampage. British and Filipino citizens and Saudi guards were reportedly among the dead, as well as a 10-year-old Egyptian boy whose father works for an oil company.
It was the second deadly assault this month targeting the oil industry in Saudi Arabia, and there were signs the militants might be linked to Al Qaeda (search). Previous terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have been blamed on Osama bin Laden's network, which has vowed to undermine the Saudi kingdom for its close ties to the United States.
While oil supply and export facilities were unaffected, analysts said Saturday's attack could further raise oil prices, already driven to new highs partly by fears that Saudi Arabia � the world's largest oil producer � is unable to protect its oil industry from terrorists.
In Washington, a CIA spokesperson said the agency had no immediate information about the identity of the militants. But a Saudi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the method of the attack was "definitely inspired by Al Qaeda."
Earlier, a statement on an Islamic Web site apparently referred to the attacks under the title, "A gift to al-Moqrin and his heroic brothers" � a reference to AbdulAziz al-Moqrin, believed to lead Al Qaeda operations on the Arabian Peninsula. The text was deleted, however, and it was unclear if the posting was a claim of responsibility.
Another Islamic Web site offered a link to "an early statement from holy warriors in the Arabian Peninsula about al-Khobar operation." That statement also was inaccessible.
The shooting rampage started Saturday morning in the city of Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh (search). Guards at the oil industry compounds said four gunmen in military-style dress opened fire and engaged in a shootout with Saudi security forces before fleeing up the street to the Oasis.
One of the oil industry compounds contains offices and apartments for the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation, or Apicorp (search), and the other � the Petroleum Center building � houses offices of various international firms.
Journalists were turned away from the compounds and kept back from the Oasis, where hundreds of Saudi security forces were trying to capture or kill the militants. Saudi forces had fired shots inside the compound, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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 and INOVx, both based in Houston, and Aveva, of Cambridge, England. There was no immediate word on their employees.
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.
Michael Rothman, chief energy strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, also said there might be "a limited psychological reaction" in oil markets but that the attack would not affect supply.
Official Saudi reports said only that "militants" had "randomly opened fire" at about 7:30 a.m. and killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. A statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency said security forces had surrounded the militants inside a building in the residential complex and that "they are currently being dealt with."
The U.S. Embassy said one American was confirmed dead, and in Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore said two Americans were wounded.
The British Foreign Office in London 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.
Witnesses said the bodies of three men with Western features had been lying on the ground covered with newspapers until ambulances took them away.
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.
Two security guards were believed to be dead, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately clear how many people total had been taken hostage. Earlier, Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told AP that five Lebanese hostages had been released. He did not know the nationalities of others who might have been taken captive.
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.
Many expatriates decided to leave, at least temporarily, after the Yanbu attack. Then, U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter advised Americans to leave the country � a move criticized by Saudi officials.
Advertise on FOX News Channel, FOXNews.com and FOX News Radio
Jobs at FOX News Channel.
Internships at FOX News Channel (deadline to apply is FRIDAY, APRIL 9th, 2004).
Terms of use. Privacy Statement. For FOXNews.com comments write to
[email protected]; For FOX News Channel comments write to
[email protected]
� Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright � 2004 ComStock, Inc.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2004 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
All market data delayed 20 minutes. |
Troubling. Oh so troubling...
But doesn't this go to show that this is a global war on terror--World War III--and that the entire world will soon be involved. Saudi Arabia has supported Al Queda (and the Royal family supports the US), and even though it is an ARAB country, Islamic Extremests will attack them. They will stop at nothing for success, even killing people of their OWN beliefs--then how is this a Holy War? |
What you need to remember RM, Extremists will attack anywhere that they feel is opposing them unless it's a Holy City. Saudi Arabia and the Arab nations make up only 20% of the World's Muslim Population so they aren't and never have been safe from Al-Qaeda.
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