Five foreigners gunned down in Saudi

At least five foreigners have been shot dead in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar, security sources have said.

They said armed fighters stormed three compounds on Saturday housing oil-servicing offices and residential homes of employees.

Diplomatic sources said "armed terrorists" took a large number of people hostage, including five Lebanese, at the housing compound.

It is not yet clear if the foreigners worked in one of the oil companies in Khobar.

Earlier this month, fighters killed five Westerners at an energy complex in the Red Sea city of Yanbu and a German was shot dead last week in the capital Riyadh.

The Saudi government is battling a wave of opposition to its rule. A string of bombings last year killed 50 people, including nine Americans.

The attacks were blamed on Saudi-born Usama bin Ladin’s al-Qaida, although conclusive evidence has not been provided.

Statement

The killings came after a statement purported to be from the
al-Qaida chief in Saudi Arabia on an Islamist website on Thursday urged followers to wage an urban guerrilla war of assassinations, kidnappings and bombings.

Saudi Arabia has issued a list of
26 most-wanted suspects
The "execution group" in each four-tiered cell should be "trained to carry out operations inside cities, including assassinations, abductions, bombings, sabotage, raids and the liberation of hostages," said the statement attributed to Abd al-Aziz al-Muqrin and posted on http://www.qal3ah.org

The lengthy statement, the authenticity of which could not be independently confirmed, appeared to be several months old and it was not clear why it was belatedly made public.

It refers to the Saudi authorities’ announcement "in recent days of the names of 26 mujahid... which showed the failure of their security agencies to track down the mujahdin."

The reference was to a list of 26 most-wanted suspects issued by Saudi authorities in December following a series of
bombings that targeted residential compounds in Riyadh in May and November 2003.

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