Mon, May 03, 2004 - Page 1 News List

Saudi attack prompts evacuation

SHOOTING SPREE Police killed the four gunmen who attacked a petrochemical firm's office on Saturday, slaying six people and wounding several dozen more

REUTERS AND AP , RIYADH AND YANBU, SAUDI ARABIA

Crown Prince Abdullah, speaking on Saudi television, said: "The kingdom will eliminate terrorism no matter how long it takes."

State oil firm Saudi Aramco has vowed to guard he kingdom's vital oil assets, saying it had tightened security measures for plants and employees.

Armed guards outside the petrochemical plant where Saturday's initial attack took place barred journalists from entering the facility yesterday. Security was tight throughout Yanbu yesterday, with police checkpoints and staggered cement roadblocks slowing traffic. Armored personnel vehicles guarded the main road from the airport and blocked streets.

Jina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the US consul general based in Jiddah, said she met with some of the about 400 Americans in Yanbu yesterday and repeated an earlier US warning of "credible indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Saudi Arabia" and advice to Americans to leave the kingdom.

"The situation is still very dangerous ... we urge Americans to consider departure," she said, adding that some Americans in Yanbu were considering that advice.

In another attack in the city on Saturday, a pipe bomb was thrown over a wall of the Yanbu International School, causing minor damage and slightly injuring a custodian, according to the Overseas Security Advisory Council, which shares security information between the US government and the private sector.

``Staff and children had already been advised not to report to school that morning,'' apparently in response to the shooting, said a warden's message posted at the US Embassy's Web site.

Intelligence had suggested al-Qaeda wanted to strike at Saudi oil interests. Bin Laden -- a Saudi exile -- long has called for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family and questioned its Islamic credentials.

Saudi Arabia _ the world's biggest oil producer -- relies heavily on 6 million expatriate workers, including about 30,000 Americans, to run its oil industry and other sectors. The kingdom produces about 8 million barrels of oil a day.

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