SAUDI ARABIA: Islamic militants were holding foreign hostages in a Saudi Arabian hospital last night after fleeing there during a running battle with security forces. At least four people died before the gunmen entered the hospital near Jizan, about 600 miles south of the capital, Riyadh, officials said.
The siege began after Saudi forces raided a farm, setting off a running battle with the gunmen, security officials and Arab television stations said.
An official statement on Saudi state television referred to a raid on an apartment, not a farm, near Jizan and said nothing of the hospital stand-off. It said one security officer and three militants were killed.
A correspondent for the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya station said the gunmen were holding a number of foreign doctors and nurses hostage on the roof of the hospital. Negotiations with the hostage-takers were believed to be under way and none of the hostages were injured, the reporter said.
- (AP)