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By Associated PressA statement says the rampage, which killed 22, was punishment for dealings with America. Three attackers escaped.
KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia - Helicopter-borne Saudi commandos drove al-Qaida militants from an expatriate housing complex in the kingdom's oil hub Sunday, ending a shooting and hostage-taking rampage that left 22 dead - most of them foreigners.
At least one American was killed in the worst terror attack on Saudi soil in a year and the second this month to target its oil industry. A statement Sunday attributed to al-Qaida's chief in the Saudi region 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."
The 25-hour rampage started Saturday morning when militants dressed in military-style uniforms opened fire inside two oil industry office compounds in the Persian Gulf city of Khobar and engaged in a shootout with Saudi guards. They then moved up the street to the Oasis, an upscale resort and residence with apartments, villas and hotels, where they took 45 to 60 hostages.
Saudi security stormed the building early Sunday morning after they found out that the hostages were being harmed, said Jamal Khashoggi, an adviser to Saudi Arabia's Embassy in London.
"Intervention then became necessary," he said.
The commandos freed 41 hostages, the Saudi Interior Ministry said. The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Turki al-Faisal, told the BBC that the bodies of nine hostages had been found on the premises when forces went in.
Only one of the four attackers was captured and the others escaped, but the Interior Ministry said the arrested attacker, who was wounded, was the ringleader of the assault and "an important target." One of the fugitives also was wounded.
In Washington, a spokesman for the Saudi Embassy, Nail al-Jubeir, told CNN that one attacker also was killed in the standoff with Saudi forces.
"The intent was to cripple the world economy by sending the message that foreigners are not safe inside Saudi Arabia," he said, but dismissed any notion that the kingdom cannot protect its people.
"It does not take much to come into a building with a rifle and shoot innocent people," he said, comparing the attack to a drive-by shooting. "Unfortunately it is very difficult to guard against."
The attack marks a fresh challenge to efforts by the kingdom to crack down on Islamic militants. There also were concerns the attack could drive up oil prices, already at new highs in part because of fears the world's largest oil producer is unable to protect itself from terrorism.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia reiterated a call to its citizens to leave the kingdom. Britain's Foreign Office said on its Web site that it fears further terror attacks "may be in the final stages of preparation" in Saudi Arabia and warned against all but essential travel.
Most of the dead were among the 6-million expatriate workers the kingdom relies on to run its oil industry and other sectors. They included eight Indians, three Filipinos, three Saudis, two Sri Lankans, an American, a Briton, an Italian, a Swede, a South African and a 10-year-old Egyptian boy, according to the Interior Ministry statement read on Saudi television.
It said 25 people of different nationalities were injured and that security forces had evacuated 242 people from the Oasis, including residents not held hostage but trapped inside.
It was not clear how many people were killed in the initial shooting rampage or during the hostage standoff. On Saturday night, while the hostages were being held, Crown Prince Abdullah said about 10 Saudis and foreigners had been killed at the oil company offices.
In its statement, the Interior Ministry said the militants tried to enter the Oasis complex with a vehicle rigged with explosives, but had to scale the wall instead.
Once inside, they gathered hostages on the sixth floor of a high-rise building after making sure they were targeting non-Muslims, residents said. Militants have been criticized in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.
Abdul Salam al-Hakawati, a 38-year-old Lebanese corporate financial officer, said gunmen rummaging around his family residence said declared, "This is a Muslim house" - apparently seeing Koranic verses on the walls.
He said a man in his early 20s, carrying a machine gun and wearing an ammunition belt, told him: "We only want to hurt Westerners and Americans. Can you tell us where we can find them here?"
Late Saturday, Saudi security forces stormed the walled complex and surrounded the attackers. Those forces tried to reach the hostages during the night, they said, but found booby traps.
Just after sunrise, three helicopters dropped Saudi commandos into the compound. Gunfire, heard sporadically overnight, rang out again. Within a few hours, the standoff was over.
In the audio statement posted Sunday on Islamic Web sites, the speaker identified as Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, believed to be al-Qaida's chief in the Saudi region, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The speaker also said the struggle with America would be pursued "in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan, in Iraq" and the battle with the Saudi government will continue until the "crusaders are expelled from the land of Islam."
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim, which was accompanied on the site by a written statement characterized by contempt for non-Muslims and signed "al-Qaida's cell in the Arabian Peninsula."
Several Saudi newspapers reported Sunday that the attackers threw at least one body from the Oasis building where they were holed up and mutilated some of the bodies of those killed.