Americans urged to leave Saudi Arabia after attack

A wardens message issued after Saturday’s attack referred American citizens to a travel warning issued two weeks ago which strongly urged U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia to leave. "Private American citizens currently in Saudi Arabia are strongly urged to depart," the note, dated April 15th said.

There was no immediate indication if the latest attack would prompt an exodus among the 35,000 Americans — a move that could badly damage the economy of the world’s biggest oil exporter.

Two Americans, two Britons and an Australian were killed in the shooting. The body of one victim was dragged by car through the streets of the Red Sea industrial city. A Canadian citizen was shot in the neck and remains in serious condition.

Swiss-based firm ABB Lummus said staff who were traumatized by the attack in the Saudi industrial city of Yanbu, the first militant strike against an economic target in the kingdom, would be going home.

It did not say how many would leave, but the company has about 90 employees in Yanbu and it said 110 working elsewhere in Saudi Arabia would continue to work.

Saudi Arabia has been battling a year-long insurgency by supporters of Saudi born Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

"Last night we sent a message to all Americans," an embassy spokeswoman said. "Our advice stands. Americans should not travel to Saudi Arabia and those that are here should depart."

Top officials targeted
"Some of the ABB Lummus staff who had been traumatized will be evacuated and they will probably not return after what happened," an ABB executive told Reuters.

The gunmen had killed the top three officials involved in an upgrading project at the Saudi petrochemical firm YANPET, jointly owned by U.S. Exxon Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), he said.

"It’s been a shock," said one Western expatriate in Yanbu. "There’s been no panic but everyone is concerned and they will have to decide what steps to take."

Saudi police beefed up security in the city, home to a large foreign business community, erecting checkpoints and roadblocks.

Saudi Arabia said the shooting was carried out by workers who used their passes to access the tightly secured site and gun down the five engineers. The oil official said the fact that the gunmen went for top executives indicated they could be insiders.

He said the gunmen dragged one of the five Westerners’ dead bodies behind their car through the streets of Yanbu.

The four gunmen were later killed in clashes with police. Two officers also died and 18 were injured.

Crown Prince Abdullah said "foreign elements" were behind the killing and Saudi Ambassador to Britain Turki al-Faisal said he believed al-Qaeda was responsible.

State oil firm Saudi Aramco has vowed to keep guard on the kingdom’s vital oil assets, saying it had tightened security of plants and employees.

Riyadh has cracked down on al-Qaeda militants since a series of suicide bombings on residential compounds in the capital last year killed more than 50 people, including nine Americans.

Washington has put intense pressure on Riyadh to act after the Sept. 11, 2001 airliner attacks on U.S. cities in which most of the hijackers were Saudis.

But despite a Saudi security clampdown, militants appear determined to heed calls by al-Qaeda leaders to widen the conflict and destabilize what they see as "apostate" rulers allied with the United States.

Last month a suicide bomber destroyed a police building in Riyadh, killing five people in the first major attack on a government target. In Saturday’s rampage, the gunmen fired on U.S. fast food chain McDonald’s, the Holiday Inn hotel and threw a pipebomb at an international school.