Saudi commandos stormed a housing complex yesterday and freed dozens of foreign hostages from Islamic militants who earlier killed at least 17 people in an assault on Saudi Arabia's vital oil industry.
Security sources said several hostages were killed during the rescue operation at the upmarket Oasis housing compound after a 25-hour drama in the oil city of Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia. The final death toll was not immediately clear.
An Internet statement purportedly from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda said it carried out the unprecedented hostage-taking, which raised the stakes in a battle the world's biggest crude exporter has fought against the network for a year.
In a dramatic end to the standoff, television pictures showed helicopters dropping commandos onto the roof of the complex. After freeing about 50 hostages, Saudi forces arrested several gunmen, including their leader.
Saudi security officials flashed victory signs as scores of residents and hostages streamed out of the compound.
But a security source said: "After Saudi security stormed the building where the militants were holding hostages, they [the gunmen] killed some hostages."
It was the second major attack on the Saudi oil industry -- critical to the Western economy -- in less than a month and raised fears that already high oil prices could rise still further, although experts said production was unaffected.
The standoff began on Saturday when gunmen in military uniforms shot at Western oil firms and housing compounds, killing nine Saudis and at least eight foreigners before fleeing to the Oasis complex. The body of a Briton was dragged through the streets, witnesses said.
A manager at the Oasis compound said three foreigners were killed in the subsequent rescue, including one American and one Briton. The US embassy said it could not confirm the report.
Two militants were also killed during the rescue, after which most of the hostages and residents were evacuated to hospitals and hotels, security sources said.
After storming the Oasis, Saudi forces were combing it for explosives and fugitive militants, security sources said. Medics were tending to some hostages inside the complex, its manager said.
The Saudi ambassador to Washington told Fox News seven Americans were among the freed hostages.
The Saudi Arabian government said the kingdom's vast energy network was running as normal following the attack.
Senior Saudi oil officials met top Western oil executives in the nearby city of Dhahran later yesterday to reassure them about security. One Western executive said he did not expect a mass exodus of expatriate oil workers.
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