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Gunmen Kill 5 at Saudi Oil Offices

Posted on: Saturday, 29 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Attackers opened fire on compounds housing oil company offices in the eastern city of Khobar on Saturday, killing at least five people and taking hostages, witnesses said. Three foreigners were said to be among the dead.

Five Lebanese hostages were later released from the compound where the gunmen had taken refuge after the shooting spree, Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told The Associated Press by telephone from Jiddah. He said he didn't know if hostages of other nationalities were still being held.

"The Saudi security forces have managed to free all the Lebanese," Chammat said.

Witnesses and diplomats gave conflicting accounts of the shooting, and estimates of the number of dead ranged as high as eight. Some who saw the attack spoke of four gunmen in military-style dress attacking two oil company offices, while a western diplomat in Saudi Arabia said three compounds were attacked.

Other witnesses said they saw three men with western features lying on the ground covered with newspapers. Those bodies were taken away in ambulances, they said. The nationalities of the foreigners were not known, but British officials were en route to Khobar to check rumors a British national was killed, according to the Foreign Office in London.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh would not say whether any Americans were hurt or killed. "We have received reports of an incident, and we are investigating it," an embassy official in Riyadh said on condition of anonymity.

If the reports are true that westerners are among the dead, it would be only the latest such attack in Saudi Arabia, which has launched a high-profile crackdown on terrorists following attacks on Riyadh housing compounds in 2003.

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

A week ago, a German who worked as a chef for Saudi Arabia's national airline was shot and killed by unknown assailants.

In Saturday's attack, two security guards were believed to be dead, according to the western diplomat who said there were three separate attacks. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses said that after a shootout with security forces, the gunmen took refuge in a compound housing Arabs and westerners in Khobar, located 250 miles northeast of the capital, Riyadh.

At least 10 ambulances were seen outside the Oases compound, an upscale residential complex owned by a Saudi businessman, one witness said. He said he was told by a policeman that gunmen were apparently holding hostages.

Hundreds of policemen surrounded the compound, and helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said. They said they had heard of eight people killed at two compounds containing oil company offices.

Saudi Interior Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment. U.S. Embassy officials also could not be reached.

Witnesses, all of whom spoke on condition they not be identified, said the four attackers used a small car and were accompanied by another sports utility vehicle.

The government says it has foiled dozens of terror attacks in the kingdom. Most of the attacks were blamed on al-Qaida.

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