Hostages freed in Saudi Arabia

Tens of European, US and other hostages were released today and a gunmen believed to be the lead Islamic militant holding them was arrested, a Saudi security official said, adding that two other gunmen were “in the process of being arrested”.

A soldier on the scene in the oil producing city of Khobar also said that seven gunmen were arrested.

When told that security officials were saying two were still being arrested, he said they were on two floors that troops had not yet reached.

The security official would not comment on the whereabouts or conditions of the hostages, saying only: "It has ended. One has been arrested and two are in the process of being arrested - they are surrounded."

Neither the soldier nor the security official would comment further, with the security official saying the Saudi Interior Ministry would issue a statement on the resolution later.

A British oil company executive was reported to be among at least 10 people killed when the militants, wearing military-style uniforms, sprayed gunfire inside two office compounds in Khobar, 250 miles north east of Riyadh near the Gulf coast yesterday.

Briton Michael Hamilton’s body was dragged for more than a mile behind a car after he was killed in front of his work colleagues, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Mr Hamilton, in his 50s, was a senior executive for the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), the newspaper said. It is believed he was shot dead in his car as he drove to work at around 7.30am local time.

Following the killing spree the attackers retreated into a high-rise building in Oasis Residential Resorts complex, where they took up to 50 hostages.

Saudi security forces stormed the walled housing compound and surrounded the attackers on the sixth floor of a building, a police officer told The Associated Press.

Statements posted on Islamic websites claimed the attack in the name of the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Brigade. One statement was signed the “al Qaida in the Arab Peninsula”. It said the attacks targeted US companies and that a number of “crusaders” had been killed.

One Saudi security official said the method of the attack was “definitely inspired by al Qaida”.

The attack was the second deadly assault this month against the Saudi oil industry and came amid oil prices driven to new highs partly by fears that the Saudi kingdom – the world’s largest oil producer – is unable to protect itself from terrorists.

“The terrorists’ goal is to disrupt the Saudi economy and destabilise our country. But they will not succeed,” Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan said in a statement released in Washington. “With every desperate act of violence, our effort and resolve to destroy the terrorists only grows.”

The Arab satellite station Al-Arabiya reported that the Saudi oil minister met with oil executives to assure them that the attack would not affect oil supplies. He planned to meet ambassadors today for the same purpose, the station said.

Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born, anti-Western Islamic extremist blamed for past terror attacks in Saudi Arabia and the US, has vowed to destabilise the oil industry and undermine the kingdom for its close ties to Washington.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said around 10 Saudis and foreigners were killed in the Khobar attack. An American man, a 10-year-old Egyptian boy and three Filipinos were among those confirmed killed.

Yesterday morning, guards at two oil industry compounds housing offices and employee apartments said four gunmen wearing military-style dress opened fire and engaged in a shoot-out with Saudi security forces before fleeing up the street to the Oasis, a vast complex containing apartments and hotels.

A security official said one attempt to storm the building where the hostages were being held was abandoned after booby traps were discovered.

According to Oasis residents and an employee, the militants asked questions when they arrived that indicated they were trying to separate Muslims from non-Muslims. Islamic militants have been criticised in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.

Lebanon’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Chammat, told The Associated Press that five Lebanese hostages had been released.

One of them, Orora Naoufal, said she cowered in her apartment with her four-year-old son for five hours after a brief encounter with two of the gunmen, whom she described as clean-shaven and wearing military uniforms.

She told AP by telephone that the gunmen asked her where the “infidels” and foreigners were, and whether she was Muslim or Christian.

“I replied: ‘I am Lebanese and there are no foreigners here’.” She said the gunmen told her to “Go convert to Islam, and cover up and go back to your country.”

The Oasis compound is upscale expatriate housing that includes shops, restaurants, playgrounds and fitness centres. It also has a hotel and leisurely extras such as a grassy beach in a private Gulf cove and an ice-skating rink, according to the compound’s website.

One of the targeted oil industry compounds contains offices and apartments for Apicorp, and the other – the Petroleum Centre building – houses offices of various international firms.

An Apicorp statement yesterday said that three of its employees were killed in the attack, but did not release names or nationalities.

“The headquarters of the company in Khobar was subject to an armed attack around 7.15am which resulted in the death of three people,” the statement said.

The Egyptian boy who was killed was the son of an Apicorp employee, said Mahmoud Ouf, an Egyptian consular officer in Riyadh.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said an American man who worked for an oil company was confirmed dead, but did not identify him or his employer.

A diplomat in Khobar said the three Filipinos killed included two shot in the Petroleum Centre building and a third shot in the Oasis residential compound.

In London, the Foreign Office was investigating reports that a British citizen was killed.

Two security guards also were believed to be dead, according to a Western diplomat.

The attack came as Saudi Arabia, Opec’s most powerful member, is urging the oil producers’ cartel to boost production to try to reduce the high cost of crude.

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 in the western city of Yanbu on May 1, killing six Westerners and a Saudi.

Saudi Arabia relies heavily on around six million expatriate workers to run its oil industry and other sectors. The kingdom produces around eight million barrels of oil a day.