'Four Dead' in Saudi Gunfight

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

(11:42 AM ET) (15:42 GMT)

The Associated Press

Westerners and others often staff hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich kingdom also relies on foreign workers in its oil, banking, telecommunications and other industries and to train its security forces. It is home to 6 million expatriate workers, including about 35,000 Americans and 30,000 Britons.

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia -- AP
Saudi security forces raided a farm Tuesday, setting off a running battle with gunmen who fled into a hospital and took foreigners hostage, security officials and an Arab television station said.

The government said the gunmen were militants planning a terror attack. One security official and three militants were killed in the gunbattle, a government statement said.

Security officials said the standoff at the hospital building in Jizan, 600 miles south of the Saudi capital, Riyadh, continued at mid-afternoon. An Arab television station said the hostages were foreign doctors and nurses.

The raid came amid a crackdown on Islamic militants launched after May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 26 people, as well as the nine attackers. More than 200 suspects have been arrested and more than a dozen killed in a series of high-profile police raids since then.

The battle began when security forces raided a farm near Jizan, looking for suspects, the security officials said.

Some of the suspects escaped and took refuge in the hospital building, taking a number of hostages, they said.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan