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THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: Al-Qaida Vows Attacks After Foiled Bid

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Al-Qaida Vows Attacks After Foiled Bid

Al-Qaida on Saturday vowed more attacks a day after an attempt to bomb the world's biggest oil processing complex showed the group still can strike inside Saudi Arabia despite the arrests of hundreds of suspects.

A strike on the Abqaiq complex, near Saudi Arabia's eastern Persian Gulf coast, could have been devastating. Nearly two-thirds of the country's oil flows through the facility for processing before export.

Foiling the attack demonstrated Saudi Arabia's success in putting tough security around the oil industry, the source of the royal family's wealth, oil analysts said.

Two suicide bombers in explosives-packed cars traded fire with police at a checkpoint before a gate in the first of three fences around the sprawling, heavily guarded complex. One bomber collided with the closed gate, exploding and blowing a hole in the fence, a senior Saudi security official said.

The second bomber drove through the hole before police opened fire, detonating his car, the official added on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Witnesses on Friday reported that security forces traded fire with gunmen outside the facility after the explosions and that a hunt for attackers continued for hours. Saudi officials have not reported the capture of any assailants.

At least two attackers and two security guards were killed, the state news agency reported. Eight foreign workers at the facility - all from South Asia - were wounded, a former Aramco employee told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Aramco is the state oil company that owns the facility.

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