Posted on 05/01/2004 4:47:52 PM PDT by Shermy
YANBU, 2 May 2004 — Five Western expatriates and one National Guard soldier were shot dead after militants attacked the office of a US contractor here and then continued a rampage around the Red Sea city. Two Americans, two Britons and an Australian were killed. Four were employees of the company, ABB Lummus; one worked for a sub-contractor. Two other company employees, one American and one Canadian, were last night in hospital, one in a critical condition.
At least 19 others, mainly policemen, were also hospitalized suffering from gunshot wounds. Four vehicles were involved in the attacks which took place at different locations across Yanbu.
“Nineteen people were admitted with gunshot wounds. All are in the surgical ward and are stable, except Thomas Washburn, a Canadian, who was shot in the neck and will probably be paralyzed if he survives. He is currently in critical condition,” said Dr. Ibrahim Kushisha at Yanbu’s Royal Commission Hospital.
The Interior Ministry later confirmed the deaths of the five Westerners and a National Guard officer. “Workers at a petrochemical site used their passes to access the complex and carry out the attack,” a ministry official said. “Three employees entered the site, taking advantage of their passes and allowing a fourth accomplice to enter through the emergency gate.”
Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, meanwhile, said he believed foreign hands were behind the recent terrorist attacks in the Kingdom.
“We are 95 percent sure, if not 100 percent, that foreign hands are behind these events,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying. He emphasized that Saudi Arabia would confront terrorists with an iron hand. “We will track down this deviant group, no matter how long it takes,” he added.
An exact chronology of events remains unclear but Arab News was able to construct the following chain of events from eyewitness statements.
At approximately 6.30 a.m., at least four gunmen, possibly five, stormed the offices of ABB Lummus, a Texas-based engineering, procurement and construction contracting company working for Yanpet. It left five expatriate employees dead. A Filipino bus driver told Arab News that at around 7.00 a.m. he heard gunshots fired from inside the building. A frightened employee came rushing out yelling: “Take cover, they are shooting!” He said he then saw five teenage Saudis armed with M16s and AK-47s leave the building. The terrorists tied the body of a white male in his early thirties, to the rear of a gray Toyota Land Cruiser. At that point the police arrived.
Following an exchange of gunfire, the terrorists split up, speeding off in different directions, with one vehicle dragging the dead body for approximately three kilometers. Another Filipino, on his way to the Royal Commission, saw the speeding car dragging the body. He told Arab News that a teenage Saudi standing on the passenger seat was firing into the air.
The Land Cruiser then made its way around the corner to the Saudi British Bank, where the body broke free. The gunmen continued down the street to a neighboring McDonald’s fast-food restaurant where they again opened fire leaving the children’s play area, the drive thru, and the exterior walls riddled with bullets. The gunmen then fled the area and drove approximately 11 kilometers down King Abdul Aziz Road where they were stopped and killed by Saudi security forces in front of the Yanbu Chamber of Commerce building.
According to a Filipino who was fixing a traffic signal in between Al-Hediak and Baladiyah streets in downtown Yanbu said, two terrorists were instantly killed but a third managed to escape. However, there has been no confirmation as to numbers.
Later Arab News was told that there had been a shootout at the Holiday Inn resort, right outside the entrance of Yanbu’s Arabian Homes compound. When reporters arrived at the scene, they found the security booth as well as the exterior walls of the Holiday Inn riddled with bullet holes. At time of going to press, it was unclear which vehicle was involved in that attack. However, a source near the scene told Arab News that a second set of terrorists had been cornered there and exchanged fire with policemen. Two policemen were reportedly instantly killed in the shootout but the terrorists had escaped.
While the gunfight was going on, a source told Arab News that Arabian Homes security personnel had to take cover inside the compound.
Approximately 11 kilometers away, another scene of death and destruction was played out in front of hundreds of witnesses at a busy intersection where the Yanbu headquarters of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Yanbu Municipality buildings are located. According to witnesses, at approximately 8.45 a.m., police were chasing a stolen Coast Guard patrol jeep through the city occupied by two men who were not government officials but wearing coast guard uniforms. The shootout that followed between security forces and the suspects left one militant injured with a gunshot wound, and an apparent suicide bomber dead with the bombs still strapped to his body. When Arab News arrived at the scene at 3.00 p.m., the uniformed body was still lying in the road while bomb disposal technicians worked to defuse the bombs. At least a thousand people had gathered to watch. Once the bombs were defused, they were placed in a bomb disposal unit and rushed away.
— With input from T. Cordeiro, Hassan Adawi, Raffy Osumo & Francis Salud
It would seem to me that, if I was to sign on to go overseas in a hostile enviornment, for whatever reason ... I'd at least be trained to watch out for and be prepared to protect myself.
When my daughter was a teenager, and we went out for a few hours, I left the loaded 9mm with her. She knows what to do and when and she was 16 or 17 at the time. (Forget the 'too young' flames ... I won't respond)
At the Muslim Center...they had on Coast Guard Uniforms?? OUR Uniforms?? They were going to blame killing Muslim children on US??
Totally different kind of contractors. They are doing routine business work in the oil industry.
As far as gun ownership, the Saudis restrict it.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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