Saudis seek hostage-takers whose escape mystifies

Saudis seek hostage-takers whose escape mystifies

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia - Saudi authorities hunted Monday for three suspected al-Qaida fighters who used hostages as human shields to escape after a weekend assault on a residential complex that killed 22 people, mostly foreign oil industry workers.

But amid vague official accounts, foreigners in Khobar were asking: How did the hostage-takers escape?

The attackers fled 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 police official said Monday.

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

But the man in custody, identified by the Los Angeles Times as Nimir al Bigami, was reportedly wounded so badly in the shootout that his companions left him for dead, and it isn't clear whether he has been able to answer interrogations.

One of the fugitive attackers is also believed to have been wounded, but it wasn't clear how seriously.

It was the worst terror attack on Saudi soil in a year and the second in May 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.

The official death toll from the entire 25-hour siege was 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.

Knight Ridder Newspapers identified the American as Frank Floyd of Kentucky, who had spent more than a quarter-century in Saudi Arabia.

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 haven't provided many details on how the standoff ended.

Saudi security stormed the building early Sunday after they found out that the hostages were being harmed, said Jamal Khashoggi, an adviser to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London.

"Intervention then became necessary," Khashoggi said.

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.

The Associated Press reported that an unnamed Oasis employee who had been inside the compound assessing damage Monday relayed an account from a freed hostage who was fluent in Arabic and who said security forces allowed the attackers to flee because they were killing hostages.

The former hostage said he heard a gunman say that they would release the hostages if they were allowed to flee. Security forces first refused, but agreed after the militants, who also threatened to blow up the building, began killing hostages, the former hostage said.

In the evening, several police cars surrounded a mosque next to a McDonald's in Khobar after police got word that suspected terrorists were inside the mosque. A police officer on the scene said two people had been detained on suspicion of having terrorist connections. He would not elaborate.

Lawyer Ibrahim al-Yami, whose office is across from the mosque, said he saw police take away the mosque's muezzin and his wife. Al-Yami said he heard one shot fired inside the mosque.

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 shouldn't be too strong since no hard oil facilities, such as refineries, were targeted.

Most oil markets were closed Monday, but one open in Tokyo indicated traders are concerned, with crude oil futures up. Dow Jones Newswires reported that the attack prompted U.S. hedge funds, investment banks and speculators to sell the U.S. dollar, sending the currency to a 31/2-week low of 110 yen in Asian trading.

The U.S. 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.

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