SAUDI ARABIA: Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attacked the world's largest oil processing facility yesterday, but were prevented from breaking through the gates when guards opened fire on them, causing the vehicles to explode, officials said.
It was the first attack on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia - and it targeted one of the kingdom's most important. The huge Abqaiq processing facility near the Gulf coast handles about two-thirds of the country's oil output, according to the US department of energy.
Two security officers and at least two of the bombers were killed in the attack.
For several hours afterward, security forces exchanged fire with other attackers while scouring the area, a witness said.
The Saudi oil minister said: "The blast did not affect operations at the Abqaiq facility." He denied an earlier report on Al-Arabiya television that the flow of oil was halted briefly after a pipeline was damaged.
"The facility continued to operate normally. Export operations continued in full," the minister, Ali Naimi, said.
Saudi Arabia has been waging a fierce three-year crackdown on al-Qaeda militants, who launched a campaign in 2003 aimed at overthrowing the royal family with a string of attacks - mostly targeting foreigners.
There was no immediate word on who was behind yesterday's attack.
"It's new in the sense that this is the boldest attempt to strike at the heart of a Saudi oil-production complex," oil analyst Antoine Halff said.