news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3760287.stm
Printable version Saudi forces surround militants Bullet-riddled car Vehicles were left riddled with bullets Security forces have surrounded an oil company housing compound in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar where gunmen are said to be holding about 10 hostages. The suspected Islamist militants have killed about 10 people, including foreigners, and taken refuge there. It is the latest in series of attacks on the kingdom's oil industry - the world's largest. A statement purporting to come from an al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The message from the al-Quds Brigade, which said Americans would not be allowed to steal Saudi Arabia's riches, was carried on an Islamic website.
In pictures: Khobar attack The US embassy confirmed that an American was among the dead, while British officials said they were checking reports that a Briton had been killed. BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says that with oil at more than $40 a barrel, the attack is bad news for the world's economy. He adds that by terrifying foreign workers in the oil industry, the militants are also undermining the ruling Saudi royal family - one of their stated aims. Vehicles were left riddled with bullets and some burst into flames. The gunmen then fled into the luxury six-storey Oasis housing compound and took hostages.
Timeline: Saudi attacks Five Lebanese and two Dutch citizens are reported to have been released. Hundreds of police officers have surrounded the area, and gunfire has been heard. Earlier reports said the security forces had stormed the compound. Unconfirmed reports say they were driven back by grenades thrown by the militants. Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, said in comments carried by the state-run press agency that four militants had killed about 10 Saudis and non-Saudis - including a female child. "Security forces will, God willing, deal with them and with others like them with force," he said. He added that militants would not be allowed to undermine the country's economy. Her brother-in-law, Oliver Alabaster, told BBC News Online: "She awoke to see black-hooded men enter a house across the street.
"Now the gunmen are holed up in the house next to hers, and there is continued gunfire between the attackers and the security forces." The US embassy has reiterated its call to US citizens to leave Saudi Arabia, while Britain repeated a warning to its citizens to avoid all but essential travel to the country. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the attacks and said the UK would stand alongside Saudi Arabia in its fight against terrorism. "I want to extend my condolences to the families of all the victims of these terrible attacks," he added. Crackdown Khobar, 400km (250 miles) north-east of Riyadh, is one of the centres of the Saudi oil industry, in which foreigners play a key role. Earlier this month five foreigners were killed in an attack on a petrochemical site in the city of Yanbu. The Saudi government launched a high-profile assault on militants following a triple suicide bombing in Riyadh last May, which killed 35 people including nine bombers. In November, 17 people died when suicide bombers struck at another compound housing mainly Arab foreign workers. Last week, a German man working for Saudi Arabia's national airline was shot dead in Riyadh. Our correspondent says there has so far been no exodus of the foreign workers on whom the kingdom relies, but tensions among the expatriate community have never been higher.
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