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February 24, 2006
Saudi Arabia: Oil Refinery Attacked by Suicide Bombers
The Counterterrorism Blog is all over the story: Terrorists Attack Saudi Oil Facility
One of the "nightmare scenarios" in the counterterrorism community apparently almost happened, with an attempted terrorist attack on a major oil refinery in Abqaiq (a.k.a. Buqayq) in eastern Saudi Arabia today. This is the first known terrorist attack on an oil facility in the Kingdom, after previous attacks only on company offices (see Reuters chronology). Reuters and Al-Arabiya report that the attack failed, with Saudi security forces killing the attackers, who used 3 cars in a bombing attempt. The AP quotes the Al-Arabiya report a pipeline was damaged in the attack, but no explosion in the refinery and no oil cutoff. MSNBC quotes Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid: "Three cars rammed the first of the three sets of gates protecting Abqaiq and when security shot at them all three cars exploded." The "Middle East Online" news site reports, "Residents of Abqaiq said that they heard two blasts near the plant and saw two burned-out cars outside. It was not immediately clear if the abortive attack was the work of suicide bombers. Dozens of security forces and civil defense vehicles were seen outside the plant in Abqaiq, 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of Dammam, the main city of the Eastern Province, and about the same distance from the oil hub of Dhahran." Oil prices shot up and European stock markets dropped in fear on the initial news of the attack.[...]
Posted by Ruy Diaz at February 24, 2006 12:17 PM
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