Dozens of foreign hostages have been freed after Saudi commandos stormed a compound where they were being held by an alleged al Qaeda group.
They had killed earlier killed at least 22 including an American, a Briton and an Italian. Security sources said some hostages were killed prior to and during the rescue attempt. But three of four militants, holding hostages at gunpoint for cover, escaped a Saudi security siege in the oil city of Khobar on Sunday, the Interior Ministry admitted.
The Ministry said 25 people were also injured in the attack. Suspected al Qaeda militants opened fire yesterday on oil firms and residential compounds in the city, then took dozens of foreigners hostage. Some of them died but others were freed by Saudi forces.
Al Qaeda, in a purported statement carried on an Islamist Web site, said today its militants in Saudi Arabia had "slaughtered" an Italian and a Swedish hostage in Khobar.
A top al Qaeda leader, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, also said in a purported audio statement that militants had "slaughtered" a Japanese.
"Among those killed was a Japanese who was slaughtered and sent to the sons of his tribe which America has implicated in a war against Muslims, especially in Iraq," the voice said.
An Arabic-language statement signed by the "al Qaeda network in the Arabian Peninsula", said: "In one of the hotels, the mujahideen took captive several Westerners and killed them, including an Italian and a Swede who were slaughtered."
The statement detailed the sequence of the attack on oil firms and residential compounds in the city and vowed to rid the Arabian peninsula of "infidels".
The new statement said the militants first struck Al-Khobar Petroleum Centre building which it claimed was affiliated with US oil firm Halliburton "which Osama bin Laden mentioned in a speech about its role in the U.S. occupation of Muslim states."
Mr Jamal Khashoggi, a media adviser to the Saudi ambassador, the militants did not try negotiate with authorities.
"They didn't have any demands, they just started killing people," he said. "When security forces stormed the building they freed dozens of hostages but found the nine bodies there."
Khashoggi said security forces arrested the leader of the militants and killed another gunman while others apparently fled. "Security forces are still hunting for them," he said.