The attempt by Saudi commandos to free dozens of hostages held in a housing complex ended in confusion last night, after it emerged that three of the gunmen had escaped by using hostages as shields.
Some of the hostages were among at least 22 people who died in the two-day rampage by armed men in Khobar, according to the Saudi interior ministry.
The ministry said the Islamist militants escaped during the rescue attempt by breaking through a security cordon while holding their captives at gunpoint.
Commandos jumped from helicopters on to the roof of a building in the Oasis Residential Resorts, where about 50 foreigners were being held, to attempt the rescue.
Security officials gave victory signs as residents and hostages streamed out of the compound, but the jubilation was tempered later by news of the militants' escape and the discovery that a number of hostages had died during the rescue or shortly before it.
"Nine bodies were found on the premises where the hostages were held when Saudi security forces stormed it," a media adviser to the Saudi ambassador in London said last night. "They were nine hostages. I believe the security forces stormed the building when they started killing hostages."
These were in addition to the 17 or more people killed earlier. The exact number of casualties was still unclear last night, when the interior ministry gave the total as 22 dead and 25 injured.
Those killed included eight Indians, three Filipinos, three Saudis, two Sri Lankans, an American, an Italian, a Swede, a South African, and a Briton - Mr Michael Hamilton (62), an oil company executive, whose body was tied to a car and dragged down the streets before being dumped.
The gunmen made no attempt to negotiate. "They didn't have any demands; they just started killing people. When security forces stormed the building they found the nine bodies there." The media adviser added that the Islamist leader had been arrested.
A man who identified himself as Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, who is believed to be in charge of al-Qaeda's activities in Saudi Arabia, boasted about the killings in an audio message posted on the Internet yesterday.
"Among those killed was a Japanese, who was slaughtered and sent to the sons of his tribe which America has implicated in a war against Muslims, especially in Iraq," the voice said, adding that an Italian had been killed "as a gift to his government and leader".
The speaker accused the Saudi government of providing the US "with oil at the cheapest prices, according to their masters' wish, so their economy does not collapse".
The struggle with the US would be pursued "in the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan, in Iraq" - and the battle with the Saudi government would continue until the "crusaders are expelled from the land of Islam". - (Guardian Service)