Fears of new al-Qaeda attacks stalk Saudis
Manhunt on for hostage-takers
AFP, BBC Online, Riyadh
Fears of even more spectacular terror attacks haunted Saudi Arabia after three suspected al-Qaeda militants, who slit the throats of several foreigners among at least 22 killed in a bloody rampage, escaped a 24-hour siege. A massive manhunt is under way in Saudi Arabia for several Islamic militants who evaded capture after a bloody 25-hour hostage siege in Khobar. Police checkpoints have been set up throughout the city in an effort to capture three heavily armed militants. Officials say the group's leader was wounded and captured, but the others managed to break through a security cordon using hostages as human shields. The UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia has warned that more attacks are likely. Australia and Britain led the warnings of worse to come, with the Foreign Office in London seeing a threat of an imminent attack. Despite a massive security presence, the interior ministry admitted three of four gunmen, who took dozens of hostages and holed up in an apartment building, managed to get away to fight another day. The trio hijacked a car at gunpoint on Sunday after helicopters landed commandos on the roof of the building and rescued 25 hostages. A fourth militant, the alleged leader, was wounded and captured. He was identified only as one of the kingdom's "most wanted." Also galling for the Saudi authorities was that a statement in which the al-Qaeda terror group purportedly claimed responsibility gave the essential details of the raids hours before the interior ministry released a very similar version. A second statement, posted on an Islamist website and which could not be verified, vowed to "cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels". "We renew our determination to repel the crusader forces and their arrogance, to liberate the land of Muslims, to apply Sharia (Islamic law) and cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels," it said. The message, signed by the "al-Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula", headed by Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, a Saudi, said one of the fighters was killed, naming him as "the hero Nimer bin Suhaj al-Baqmi". Muqrin tops a Saudi list of 26 most-wanted terror suspects, which has since been reduced to 18 amid a nationwide crackdown on suspected al-Qaeda sympathisers. The Times of London on Monday picked up on the warning the previous day from the Foreign Office that plans may be advanced for fresh terror. Intelligence agencies feared a "spectacular attack", the daily said, listing key oil installations or the causeway linking the kingdom to Bahrain among possible targets. Final preparations were being made by al-Qaeda sympathisers, The Times said.
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