A rchive Date
[ 02-05-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Saudi Arabia ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/05/01/443769-cp.html
Shooting attack in Saudi Arabia
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia (CP) - Attackers sprayed gunfire inside a Saudi oil contractor's office Saturday, killing at least five westerners and wounding at least 25 others.
Police killed four gunmen in a shootout after a bloody car chase in which the attackers dragged the naked body of one victim behind their getaway car. Differing reports said one or two unidentified Canadians were wounded in the attack. One of the attackers killed was reported to be on the Saudi kingdom's list of most-wanted terrorists, many of them suspects in last year's suicide attacks on foreign housing compounds in the capital, Riyadh. The two attacks were blamed on al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden's terror network.
Three of the gunmen worked at the contractor's office in the industrial city Yanbu, 355 kilometres north of the Red Sea city Jidda; they used their key cards to enter the building and sneak another attacker through an emergency gate, said an Interior Ministry source quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.
"Using different arms, they started firing at the offices of the company's personnel before leaving the scene in a hurry to begin attacking a residential compound," the SPA quoted the source saying.
An Interior Ministry statement released earlier said the gunmen walked into the offices Saturday morning and "randomly shot at Saudi and foreign employees." The offices are across the street from a petrochemicals plant co-owned by Exxon Mobil and the Saudi company SABIC
The SPA report said two Americans, two Britons, an Australian and a Saudi national Guard soldier were killed by the gunmen.
The English-language Saudi Gazette newspaper's website, citing Interior Ministry sources and witnesses, said about 50 people were injured in the attacks, while the SPA added an American, Pakistani and Canadian were injured, along with eight National Guard soldiers and 10 security officers, all of whom were in hospital.
Earlier, diplomats said two Canadian citizens and a Saudi police captain were among the wounded.
A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman in Ottawa said officials were en route to Yanbu and would likely have further information on Sunday.
Security forces chased the gunmen through Yanbu neighbourhoods and exchanged gunfire in a residential compound before the attackers fled again.
Officials said the attackers robbed a Saudi and "an expatriate" of their cars and fled while still being chased by police, who later killed three and injured a fourth, who later died of his injuries.
Witnesses said the police engaged the attackers in a shootout outside the Holiday Inn before police finally overpowered them on a downtown street.
There was no word on the motivation behind the attack but U.S. officials had warned in recent weeks of possible attacks against foreigners in Saudi Arabia, an important U.S. ally. A Saudi diplomat called the attack an "indiscriminate evil rampage."
Intelligence has in the past suggested al-Qaida wanted to strike at Saudi oil interests and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family and questioned its Islamic credentials.
"The kingdom will eliminate terrorism no matter how long it takes," Crown Prince Abdullah said in comments broadcast Saturday night on Saudi television.
SPA later quoted Abdullah telling a gathering of princes in Jidda: "Zionism is behind terrorist actions in the kingdom. I can say that I am 95 per cent sure of that."
The Saudi crown prince said 25 people were wounded in the attack.
Saudi TV footage showed one victim lying in the bloody front seat of a sport utility vehicle, his leg dangling out an open door with a rifle nearby and several bullets on the floor. His identity was not known but he appeared to be wearing a security officer's uniform.
The attackers tied the body of one of the victims to the back of a commandeered car before fleeing, said one witness who, like all residents reached in Yanbu, spoke only on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi Gazette's online version reported the attackers stripped the man naked before tying him to a vehicle and dragging him along a road as they made their getaway in two cars.
The newspaper showed a photograph of one of the attackers lying in a pool of blood in the middle of a road wearing only black trousers and surrounded by a crowd of Saudi bystanders wearing white robes.
Mohamed Ghamdi, the Gazette's editor, said the dead man was Abdullah Saud Abu-Nayan al-Sobaie, who was No. 10 on a list of the kingdom's 26 most wanted terrorists.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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