Saudi hostage standoff ends

[nodehopper]

(CNN) -- Saudi authorities have confirmed that an operation to end the hostage standoff at a residential complex in Khobar, is over, according to Al Hayat newspaper editor Baria Alamuddin.

The authorities said most of hostages are safe and well, however they could not confirm or deny any deaths, Alamuddin told CNN.

Gunmen held as many as 50 hostages, many believed to be Westerner oil workers, inside the complex since Saturday.

more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/30/saudi.shooting/index.html

[Dover]

1. Much more from Reuters on this story:

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi commandos freed dozens of foreign hostages in a raid on Sunday to end an attack on the Saudi oil industry launched by suspected al Qaeda militants who had earlier killed at least 17 foreigners. Security sources said several hostages had been killed during the rescue operation at the upscale Oasis housing compound after a 25-hour drama in the oil city of Khobar.

The unprecedented hostage-taking in the world's biggest crude exporter raised the stakes in the kingdom's year-long fight against followers of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Saudi forces arrested the leader of the militant group and other gunmen in the raid on the vast complex after freeing about 50 hostages.

It was the second major attack on the oil industry in less than a month and prices could rise beyond $40 a barrel when markets reopen on Tuesday after a holiday.

"After Saudi security stormed the building where the militants were holding hostages, they (the gunmen) killed some hostages," a security source told Reuters.

He did not say how many had been killed or give their nationalities, but a manager at the compound said three foreigners were killed, including one American and one Briton....CONT'D >



http://tinyurl.com/263y7


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=C1WYCERXOTFAQCRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=5294824

[Chicago Democrat]

2. BBC radio just said two of the gunmen "escaped". (n/t)

[Darranar]

3. "Most" could be anywhere from 26 to 50...

assuming they aren't lying outright.

[jmcgowanjm]

4. Navy to Deploy Carrier Groups to Test Rapid Readiness

While the Navy won't say where the seven carrier groups
are going, the carriers not already deployed are expected to
be gone for only one to two months.

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1902088
Bright Star
September 15-November 1, 2001: Two of the largest war
games ever take place during the build up for war in
Afghanistan. Both have been planned several years in
advance.

http://www.itszone.co.uk/Bright-Star.htm

Robert Baer, a former CIA officer, is convinced that the
kingdom's vast oil infrastructure is vulnerable, and with it
the Western economy.

In his recent book, Sleeping with the Devil, he writes that
"taking down Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure is like spearing
fish in a barrel".

The kingdom has five giant fields connected by 10,500 miles
of pipe work, most of it above ground. According to Mr Baer,
a co-ordinated assault on five or more key junctions in
the system could put the Saudis out of the oil business for
two years.

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=526361&host=3&dir=75

[jmcgowanjm]

5. Certainly the violence is going to increase...

It is the beginning of the end ," Dr Yamani said.

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=526361&host=3&dir=75

Any expectation that the US occupation could quickly turn
around the Iraqi oil industry, enabling it to influence or
challenge Opec policy, has vanished. Output is currently at
2.8m barrels a day(I'm going w/ 1.5m/day,as discussed elsewhere). The end of year target is 3m. By the
end
of 2005, the CPA is talking about 4m barrels a day, but
no leading analysts takes this view seriously. One
Seymour Pierce analyst said: “You can’t conjure a million
barrels a day from nowhere.”

Its control, he claims, has resulted in no new fields
coming on-stream, the oil sector is in a chronic slide after
the war, and the careless over-production of some Iraqi oil
fields have destroyed their future potential, with some,
according to Horsnell “now likely to deliver water rather than
oil” due to the technical damage inflicted on them.

July 2002-The Saudis were the “kernel of evil, the prime
mover, the most dangerous opponent”.

http://www.sundayherald.com/42322

And Memorial Day 2004, 90% of Americans are clueless.