Terrorists still at large after Saudi death rampage

Saudi authorities are hunting for three suspected al-Qaida terrorists who used hostages as human shields to escape after a weekend assault on a residential complex that killed 22 people, mostly foreign oil workers.

The attackers fled Khobar to nearby Dammam, where they abandoned their truck for a car commandeered at gunpoint from an unidentified driver and drove off with police in pursuit.

A fourth militant – described as the ringleader – was captured on Sunday after helicopter-borne Saudi commandos raided the Oasis compound, where the gunmen had taken dozens of foreigners hostage in a hotel a day earlier.

The captured suspect and one of the fugitives were wounded, but it was not immediately clear how seriously.

It was the worst terror attack on Saudi soil in a year and the second this month to target its oil industry.

On Monday, bloodstains, glass shards, bullet holes and evidence of grenade blasts scarred the sealed-off Oasis resort complex, according to an employee. Broken windows were visible in the upper floors of the hotel.

Briton Michael Hamilton was among those who died in the attack. The others to die were eight Indians, three Filipinos, three Saudis, two Sri Lankans, an American, an Italian, a Swede, a South African and a 10-year-old Egyptian.

Twenty-five people of various nationalities were injured, and security forces evacuated 242 people from the Oasis, including residents not held hostage but trapped inside.

The dozens of surviving hostages have kept away from the media, and Saudi authorities have not provided many details on how the standoff ended.

An Interior Ministry statement said the three who escaped used hostages as human shields until they were able to commandeer a vehicle and flee, leaving the captives behind.

A Saudi security official would not directly address whether the militants were allowed to escape. But he said: “Our main priority was the hostages, and those guys who ran away, we know how to find them.”

Last night, several police cars surrounded a mosque next to a McDonald’s restaurant in Khobar after police got word that suspected terrorists were inside the mosque. A policeman on the scene said two people had been detained on suspicion of having terrorist connections.

A statement yesterday attributed to al-Qaida’s chief in the Saudi region, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, said the violence aimed to punish the kingdom for its oil dealings with the United States and to drive “crusaders” from “the land of Islam”.

Saudi Arabia relies on six million expatriate workers to run its oil industry and related sectors.

The attack in the kingdom’s oil industry hub was expected to have some effect on world oil markets, where prices have been at new highs, but analysts have said that jitters should not be too strong since no hard oil facilities, such as refineries, were targeted.

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia urged its citizens to leave the kingdom. Britain and Australia have warned their citizens that they fear further terror attacks may be imminent.