Posted on 05/30/2004 12:41:11 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - A man identified as al-Qaida's chief in the Saudi region claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in the kingdom's oil hub on a tape posted on the Internet Sunday.
The unauthenticated tape was posted on a Web site known for militant Muslim comment along with a written statement about the attack that was characterized by contempt for non-Muslims.
The speaker who identifies himself as Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin, believed to lead al-Qaida operations in Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries, describes attackers "slaughtering" hostages, specifying they included an Italian, an American a Japanese and a Briton. On the 8-minute tape, the speaker also said an American's body was dragged through the city streets.
Saudi commandos entered the expatriate resort early Sunday to free up to 60 foreign hostages seized by Islamic militants who had sprayed gunfire inside Persian Gulf oil industry compounds, killing up to 16 people. An unknown number of Americans were among those killed and taken captive.
The attack began early Saturday with a shooting rampage at oil company offices in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh, and ended some 25 hours later when Saudi security forces stormed the building where suspected Islamic militants were holding Western hostages.
The purported al-Moqrin recording ends with what appears to be sounds from the attack. Shots are heard, and men shout: "Open this door quickly!"
The speaker rails against the Saudi government, accusing it of opening the country to Americans and providing "America with oil at the cheapest prices according to their masters' wish, so that their economy does not collapse."
The speaker says the struggle with America would be pursued "in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan, in Iraq" and that the battle with the Saudi government will continue until the "crusaders are expelled from the land of Islam."
The authenticity of tape could not be verified, but the voice resembled the voice on previous tapes attributed to al-Moqrin. U.S. and Saudi officials believe al-Moqrin is al-Qaida's top figure in Saudi Arabia and masterminded the Nov. 8 bombing of a Riyadh housing compound that killed 17 people, most of them Arabs and Muslims working in Saudi Arabia.
The 700-word written statement posted Sunday was signed by al-Qaida's cell in the Arabian Peninsula and claimed all of the hostages had been killed. "The holy warriors didn't leave any of the hostages alive. All those infidels and crusaders who were in their hands were liquidated," it said, although dozens of hostages were freed during the crisis.
The statement said attackers killed nine people in the initial shooting and an unspecified number of hostages, including 10 Indians.
"It is worth mentioning that the holy warriors were very careful not to shed any Muslim blood as they differentiated between them and the infidel crusaders," the statement said.
The statement said one of the attackers was "martyred," or killed, although authorities said at least two gunmen died. It said the cell included one of the men on a government list of 26 most-wanted militants.
The kingdom launched a high-profile crackdown on terrorists following attacks in May and November 2003 in Riyadh.
ping
Added the keyword, SAUDIARABIA; lots of threads show up with that; I'll ping you to a few.
You got it, Thanks!
Looks like the Saudis took out their own trash... It could have been a lot worse.
No mention of the slit throats. I guess the word is out to play that down.
That is mentioned in some of the other report.
Add to that, that 3 terrorist got away clean .
Good !! Saudi Arabia hates the U.S. I believe that 11 of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were from and supported by Saudi Arabia. Let the terrorists brow beat them until they have to give us free oil to come to their aid.
I haven't read any reports on this since last night... damn, that is crude..
We truly are under attack by an islamic version of the barbarians,, using human shields and such...
I have very strong suspicions that the saudis are themselves behind these attacks.
recently there were news articles tying the insurgents in iraq to saudi arabia.
This whole hostage drama might have been staged to show the saudis as the victims not the perpetrators.
The islamic world is an extremely treacherous place.
it's very hard to tell who your friends or enemies are.
the fact of the matter is that its been more than a decade since khobar towers, more than 2 years since 911, and almost a year since the recent violence in saudi arabia began, why haven't the saudis taken steps against al qaeda?
if they are opposed to al qaeda and not the sponsors of it, why haven't they done anything to stop this group.
i can't think of a single measure the saudis have put in place to check extremism at home.
the last time the saudis arrested people for terror, it was some britons and canadians.
These crooks were blaming westerners for terror in al qaeda heartland.
This is going to be a battle against an enemy that knows no country.
take a look at some past terror arrests in saudi arabia.lol
Three Westerners -- a Briton, a Canadian and a Belgian -- have been arrested in connection with two explosions that killed a British man and injured four other British subjects in Saudi Arabia last fall, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said Sunday
The first man identified himself as Alexander Mitchell, of Britain. He said that he had received instructions to carry out the Nov. 17 bombing with the help of Sampson. He did not say who gave the order for the bombing.
http://www.saudia-online.com/business127.htm
Start here:
Ayn Rand advocated that we use military force to take them back.
I am starting to agree with her.
From Sarcasm Newsservice: "Arab ISPs were thought to be undergoing a Denial of Service attack Sunday, but the heavy activity was just people claiming responsibility for the attack at Khobar..."
Realy? Has he seen the price of gas lately?
it's very hard to tell who your friends or enemies are.
I can simplify it: Friends-you don't have any. Enemies-you have plenty.
Last year the entire western press was rife with reports about the saudi intelligence chief having reached some deal with osama bin laden in the mid 90's, whereby the saudis would give osama bin laden immunity as long as he kept away from saudi interests. This in effect would be sanctioning al qaeda attacks against the west, considering the west was the only enemy al qaeda had.
this is further proved by the fact that its been almost a decade since the khobar towers, 2 years since 911 and a year since the recent violence in saudi arabia. Why haven't the saudis cracked down on al qaeda, if it isn't sponsoring it.
When the saudis had a spate of bombings a few years, it was almost hilarious, when instead of cracking down on al qaeda, the saudis blamed it on westerners.
Now if we draw inferences from recent events.
we had bombings in pakistan just before the saudi hostage crisis. We then had the paki prime minister visit
saudi arabia and the two conspire together, and guess what?, we had the hostage crisis in saudi arabia.
Both these countries were coming under international pressure for harboring al qaeda, so they could have staged attacks to show themselves as victims, not the perpetrators to the international community.
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