Posted on 05/30/2004 11:37:20 AM PDT by sarcasm
Are you Muslim or Christian? We don't want to kill Muslims. Show us where the Americans and Westerners live," Islamic militants told an Arab after a shooting rampage against Westerners in Saudi Arabia.
The four gunmen, aged 18 to 25 and wearing military vests, grabbed Abu Hashem, an Iraqi with a United States passport, in front of his home in the Oasis compound in Khobar, but they let him go when he told them he was a Muslim.
"Don't be afraid. We won't kill Muslims - even if you are an American," he quoted them as saying.
The Oasis compound, where suspected al-Qaeda militants held about 50 foreigners hostage, was the last target in a rampage that struck oil firms and residential compounds in the oil city of Khobar, where at least 17 people were killed over two days.
Saudi military commandos rescued most of the hostages yesterday after storming the building where the militants had seized them.
Some of the hostages, mostly Westerners, were taken to hospital and others to hotels, but most were too shaken to speak to journalists. There were reports that the gunmen had killed several hostages, but details were unclear.
Some of the foreign residents interviewed said they wanted to leave the oil-rich Gulf state, which has waged a year-long campaign against militants loyal to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
Abu Hashem, the director of a Saudi firm who has been in Khobar for six months, said he wanted to move to Bahrain.
He said the four gunmen had been polite and calm. "They gave me a lecture on Islam and said they were defending their country and ridding it of infidels," he said in an interview at the Qusaibi hotel.
"The gunmen were so polite. I cannot comprehend this politeness they showed me because I am a Muslim."
While talking to the gunmen he saw the bloodied body of a Swedish cook who worked in the compound, Abu Hashem said. He had been shot dead. An American, a Briton, an Egyptian, two Filipinos, an Indian, a Pakistani and nine Saudis, mostly security men, were also killed on Saturday, security sources said.
A purported al-Qaeda statement claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has repeatedly vowed to rid the Arabian peninsula of "infidels".
Abdulsalam Hakawti, a 38-year-old Lebanese financial director, was at home with his wife and two-year-old son when he heard someone storm through the door of his villa in the Oasis complex. They ran upstairs with one militant in hot pursuit.
"Asalam Alaykum," Mr Hakawti told the militant, using the traditional Muslim greeting.
"[The gunman] told me, 'Our jihad is not against Muslims, but against Americans and Westerners'. He asked me to show him which villas had Americans and Westerners."
Mr Hakawti, who escaped last year's deadly suicide bombing at a housing compound in the capital Riyadh, said he told the young bearded gunman, dressed in a T-shirt and navy trousers, that he had only been in Khobar for three days.
There has been a string of attacks in Saudi Arabia in the past year, including suicide bombings and shootings. "These militants have robbed us of any feeling of security," said Abu Yasser, a 42-year-old Jordanian whose Oasis villa became a refuge for several terrified neighbours.
"This is home - I have been living in this country for 40 years and I would not leave. The country has changed, but I won't leave - all my family is here," he said.
Peace. Religion. Islam. Not.
heh must be the holiday weekend
So the big question is whether this guy obliged their request.
I wonder if Reuters thought of asking him that?
I just KNOW the NYT will headline this story. Right? Right?
fyi
Who did the uncool ones get stuck with?
Can you imagine the outrage if the words were reversed? "We only kill muslims?" The media would have a hayday with that no matter the location.
Now I am hearing that 3 of the 4 terrorists escaped. The Saudi government is a farce when it comes to fighting terroism.
Islam is a religion of peace alright....the peace of the dead!
bump
Could someone explain to me how this is NOT a religious war?
Peace be upon you, clearly has different meanings for kafirs and muslims. The Saudis are now seeing that appeasement is buying them little. Will the remaining whites and Christians in that old theme park, known as europa, ever get it?
They'll get it in the end.
Moonies and telemarketers.
What does this really mean?
What does this really mean?
This is not a double post. . . . it is a double question . . . !
Since when is/are "Westen'ers" a specific target? Are they trying to kill all our cowboys?
Food for athought!
Now I am hearing that 3 of the 4 terrorists escaped.
They escaped using Hostages as Shields.
See this :
That's the #1 thing you have to know about terrorists.
Our own media has tried so hard to manufacture other motivations for them that it's hard for some people to believe, but the facts all point to it being true.
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