SAUDI ARABIA: TERROR ATTACK ON OIL REFINERY FOILED

Riyadh, 29 March (AKI) - Saudi security forces have thwarted a terrorist attack on Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery Abqaiq, the second in two months, according to media reports. The Kuwaiti news agency KUNA and the Iraqi Radio Nawa report that police discovered two car bombs in the area. Local daily al-Riyadh reports that Saudi police on Tuesday carried out house searches in the al-Mantar area of Abqaib, where some employees of Saudi oil giant Aramco live, arms and explosive were discovered in one of the homes and one man was arrested. Reports say that the vehicles to be used in the attack bore the company logo.

On 24 February Saudi Arabian security forces opened fire on at least two cars apparently commandeered by would-be suicide bombers, thwarting an attack on the Abqaiq oil processing plant in the east of the country. The cars exploded near gates leading to the facility, Saudi officials said.

The oil output at the plant, the largest of its kind in the world, was not affected by the incident, Saudi state television reported.

The attack is the first directed at crude oil facilities since al-Qaeda militants launched a suicide bombing campaign against the Kingdom's pro-Western leaders in May 2003. Abqaiq handles about two-thirds of Saudi's petroleum output.

The attack came a year after al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged supporters to hit oil targets in the Gulf.

Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid was quoted as saying that Saudi security forces fired on three cars packed with explosives as they rammed the outer gates of the facility, 1.5 kilometres from the main entrance. He said the three cars exploded.

"Three cars rammed the first of the three sets of gates protecting Abqaiq, and when security shot at them, all three cars exploded," Obaid said.

Pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya said the attackers had been killed. It added the cars they used had the logo of Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco.

Saudi Arabia provides around a sixth of the world's oil exports, supplying 7.5 million barrels a day.

In May 2003, at least 35 people were killed and 200 wounded in suspected al-Qaeda suicide bombings on compounds in Riyadh.

A year later, militants attacked an oil company and housing compounds in Khobar, then fled to the city's Oasis housing compound, taking hostages. Seven Saudi policemen were killed.