Suspects Sought In Saudi Siege

Saudi authorities continued Monday to look for three militants who took part in a shooting rampage and hostage standoff over the weekend.

Police searched a hotel room Monday, believed to have been used by the militants, looking for any forensic evidence or explosives they may have left behind.

Some 22 people were killed during the 24-hour crisis, most of them foreigners, including one American.

Saudi authorities Sunday stormed the Oasis compound in the oil rich city of Khobar where dozens of hostages were being held. Officials say the leader of the militant group was arrested.

A statement attributed to a top al Qaeda leader in Saudi Arabia says the violence was aimed at punishing the kingdom for its oil dealings with the United States.

The attack is expected to have some effect on world oil markets.

Helicopter-borne Saudi commandos drove al Qaeda militants from an expatriate housing complex in the kingdom's oil hub Sunday, ending the shooting and hostage-taking spree. It was the worst terror attack on Saudi soil in a year and the second this month to target its oil industry.

The 25-hour rampage started Saturday morning when militants dressed in military-style uniforms opened fire inside two oil industry office compounds in the Gulf city of Khobar and engaged in a shootout with Saudi guards. They then moved up the street to the Oasis, an upscale resort and residence with apartments, villas and hotels, where they took 45-60 hostages.

Saudi officials say the rescue raid was launched when it became clear the militants had begun killing hostages, reports CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth.

The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Turki al-Faisal, told the BBC that the bodies of nine hostages had been found on the premises when commandos went in.

Only one of the four attackers was captured and the others escaped, but the Interior Ministry said the arrested militant, who was wounded, was the ringleader of the assault and "an important target." One of the fugitives also was wounded.

In Washington, a spokesman for the Saudi Embassy, Nail al-Jubeir, told CNN that one militant also was killed in the standoff with Saudi forces.

"The intent (of the attack) was to cripple the world economy by sending the message that foreigners are not safe inside Saudi Arabia," he said, but dismissed any notion that the kingdom cannot protect its people.

"It does not take much to come into a building with a rifle and shoot innocent people," he said, comparing the attack to a drive-by shooting. "Unfortunately it is very difficult to guard against."

The attack marks a fresh challenge to efforts by the kingdom to crack down on Islamic militants. There also were concerns the attack could drive up oil prices, already at new highs in part because of fears the world's largest oil producer is unable to protect itself from terrorism.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia reiterated a call to its citizens to leave the kingdom. Britain's Foreign Office said on its Web site that it fears further terror attacks "may be in the final stages of preparation" in Saudi Arabia and warned against all but essential travel.

Though some six million foreigners work in their oil industry, Saudi officials say there's no new threat to oil production. Oil industry analysts say current oil prices already incorporate a premium for the risk of terrorism, so Sunday's attack is not expected to have much of an impact.

The dead included: eight Indians, three Filipinos, three Saudis, two Sri Lankans, an American, a Briton, an Italian, a Swede, a South African and a 10-year-old Egyptian boy, according to the Interior Ministry statement read on Saudi television.

It said 25 people of different nationalities were injured and that security forces had evacuated 242 people from the Oasis, including residents not held hostage but trapped inside.

It was not clear how many people were killed in the initial shooting rampage or during the hostage standoff. On Saturday night, while the hostages were being held, Crown Prince Abdullah said about 10 Saudis and foreigners had been killed at the oil company offices.

In its statement, the Interior Ministry said the militants tried to enter the Oasis complex with a vehicle rigged with explosives, but had to scale the wall instead.

Once inside, they gathered hostages on the sixth floor of a high-rise building after making sure they were targeting non-Muslims, residents said. Militants have been criticized in the Arab world for previous attacks in which Saudis and other Arabs were killed.

Abdul Salam al-Hakawati, a 38-year-old Lebanese corporate financial officer, said a gunman told him: "We only want to hurt Westerners and Americans. Can you tell us where we can find them here?"

Late Saturday, Saudi security forces stormed the walled complex and surrounded the attackers. Those forces tried to reach the hostages during the night, they said, but found booby traps.

Just after sunrise, three helicopters dropped Saudi commandos into the compound. Gunfire, heard sporadically overnight, rang out again. Within a few hours, the standoff was over.

In the audio statement posted Sunday on Islamic Web sites, the speaker identified as Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin — believed to be al Qaeda's chief in the Saudi region — claimed responsibility for the attack.

The speaker railed against the Saudi government, accusing it of opening the country to Americans and providing "America with oil at the cheapest prices according to their masters' wish, so that their economy does not collapse."

The speaker also said the struggle with America would be pursued "in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan, in Iraq" and that the battle with the Saudi government will continue until the "crusaders are expelled from the land of Islam."

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the claim, which was accompanied on the site by a written statement characterized by contempt for non-Muslims and signed "al Qaeda's cell in the Arabian Peninsula."