Sixteen killed at Saudi oil compounds

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
:(


UPDATE:

Qaeda Attack Kills at Least 9 Saudis, 7 Foreigners

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5293280



http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/29/saudi.shooting/index.html

(CNN) -- At least six people were killed and an unspecified number of hostages taken after gunmen attacked complexes housing oil workers in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar, police said.

Officers said they were pursuing the fleeing suspects with a helicopter and exchanged fire with them near residential areas. They said they feared the death toll could rise.

Police said the shootings took place on Saturday outside two residential buildings and an office compound used by APICORP (Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation) in Khobar, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of the capital, Riyadh.

Authorities told CNN some of the gunmen took up to five people hostage. Unconfirmed reports later said some of these hostages were released.

Authorities could not confirm the nationalities of the victims, saying they knew Saudis and foreigners were among the dead.

Journalists on the scene said they also saw two wounded people being taken away by an ambulance.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh declined to say whether any Americans were believed to have been caught up in the latest attack in the kingdom.

"We have received reports of an incident, and we are investigating it," an embassy official in Riyadh told The Associated Press.

British officials were traveling to Khobar to check rumors a British national was killed, according to the Foreign Office in London.

Saudi Arabia has been cracking down on terrorists since attacks on compunds in Riyadh in 2003. The government says dozens of terror attacks in the kingdom -- many blamed on al Qaeda -- have been foiled as a result.

Earlier this month, Swiss engineering company ABB evacuated its foreign workers from Yanbu in northwestern Saudi Arabia after gunmen stormed ABB's oil refinery compound on May 1 and killed five Westerners -- two Americans, two British, and one Australian.

Saudi officials said those who carried out the May 1 attack -- all four of whom were also killed in the exchange of fire -- were on a list of wanted militants, many of whom had been linked to al Qaeda and all of whom were from Arab nations.

And in April attackers bombed a security building in Riyadh, killing five people and injuring 148 more.
 

catnap1972

Platinum Member
Aug 10, 2000
2,607
0
76
Betcha the terrorists have their hands in the (oil) futures market somehow.

They'd almost be stupid not to.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Originally posted by: cougarls88
Betcha the terrorists have their hands in the (oil) futures market somehow.

They'd almost be stupid not to.

I wonder how much this administration is still doing to crack down on the money trail?

One of Kerry's goals is to put a chokehold on terrorists' financing.
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: cougarls88
Betcha the terrorists have their hands in the (oil) futures market somehow.

They'd almost be stupid not to.

I wonder how much this administration is still doing to crack down on the money trail?

One of Kerry's goals is to put a chokehold on terrorists' financing.

Yep, I bet a huge chunk of that $39 a barrel is directly funding the MTM (Muslim Terrorist Movement).
 

dahunan

Lifer
Jan 10, 2002
18,191
3
0
Qaeda Militants Kill 16, Hold 50 Hostage in Saudi
Sat May 29, 2004 03:27 PM ET


By Samia Nakhoul
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda militants killed at least 16 people, including Westerners, and seized 50 foreigners as hostages in a Saudi city on Saturday in an attack on the world's biggest oil exporter.

Saudi forces stormed the Oasis housing compound, where the hostages were being held, in the eastern city of Khobar after the militants -- spraying gunfire at several buildings in their attack -- killed at least nine Saudis and seven foreigners.

"They are holding 50 foreign hostages. There are Americans, but there are more Italians. There are also Arabs," said a compound manager, declining to be named. He said there was an Italian restaurant in the complex, home to at least 20 Italians.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5293923
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: cougarls88
Better fill your tank ASAP.

Smells like $50 a barrel is coming REAL soon.

I had no idea we had 30,000 Americans working there to produce the 8 million barrels a day.

These Muslim extremists feel that the saudi's are our extended family members, interesting.

Meanwhile do we let the extremists take over Saudi Arabia or do we send in our forces (albeit already stretched to the max) in over there now???

It's clear the sand thugs do not have the armed forces enough to protect themselves.
 

catnap1972

Platinum Member
Aug 10, 2000
2,607
0
76
How about another way of looking at it...al Qaeda threatens the Saudis with royal jihad (or whatever the hell they'd unleash) if they open the taps to appease the "western infidels". (ie "comply or die")

THEN what do we do? Sounds like we're screwed either way (and that's assuming they don't blow up the pipeline anyway)
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
be prepared for a bloodbath, the Saudis just stormed the compound:


Saudis Attack Militants Holding 50 Hostages
Sat May 29, 2004 08:08 PM ET

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi forces on Sunday launched an attack on suspected al Qaeda militants holed up with 50 foreign hostages at a housing compound in the eastern oil city of Khobar, security sources said.

Witnesses heard shots as the gunmen, armed with grenades and machineguns, exchanged gunfire with the Saudis, who included special forces units.

"The forces have begun the raid on the militants," one security source said.

Security sources had earlier said the building where the hostages are being held had been booby-trapped. Ambulances and fire engines stood ready at the site.

Security forces had surrounded the building in the luxury Oasis compound after militants on Saturday killed at least nine Saudis and seven foreigners in attacks on complexes housing Western oil firms and expatriates in Khobar.

The hostages include a large number of Westerners, including Americans, security sources said. Militants were also holding Christian Arabs.

The assault on compounds housing expatriates including oil workers was likely to rattle oil markets and dent confidence in the kingdom's grip on security as it battles militants loyal to Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
link
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,674
10,114
146
House of Saud, House of Cards. Après eux, le deluge.

Better duck, boys, the excelseoir is about to hit the air moving apparatus.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/05/30/rtr1389403.html

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, May 30 (Reuters) - Security forces found nine bodies when they stormed a building on Sunday, raising the death toll to at least 25 in an assault-and-hostage drama in the Saudi city Khobar, a Saudi diplomat said in London.

"Nine bodies were found on the premises of the building where the hostages were held when Saudi security forces stormed it," Jamal Khashoggi told Reuters in Saudi Arabia by telephone. "I believe the security forces stormed the building when they (militants) started killing hostages," he said.

Asked if the nine were different from at least 16 who were killed earlier, Khashoggi said: "Yes, it is different."
 

Wag

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2000
8,288
8
81
According to CNN news (TV) 3 of the 4 captured extremists have escaped.
 

Grakatt

Senior member
Feb 27, 2003
315
0
0
One Swede among the dead.


"A voice attributed to Abdel Aziz Muqrin, who is believed to be a top al Qaeda figure in Saudi Arabia, was posted on an Islamist Web site and said he and his group managed to "slaughter" people from various countries, including the United States, Britain, and Italy.

The man, who called Saturday's attack "victorious," vowed to continue attacking Westerners until all had left the "Arab peninsula.""

"He has also called the Saudi royal family "corrupt" and said the family has nothing to do with Islam."

Now there's an agenda.
 

dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
10
81
According to BBC News:

Now 22 killed-

One American
One Briton
One South African
One Swede
Eight Indians
One Italian
Two Sri Lankans
Three Saudis
Three Filipinos
One Egyptian