YANBU, 2 May 2004 — The Red Sea port of Yanbu became the scene of the latest horrific attack by militants when a group of at least four young men, disguised as Coast Guards, stormed the offices of ABB Lummus armed with automatic weapons and, according to one witness, opened fire at point blank range.

Reports filtering in throughout the day said at least seven people were killed and several others injured. In a grim replay of scenes in Baghdad recently, gunmen bound one of the bodies hand-and-foot and attached it to the rear of a vehicle — big enough, an eye witness said, to allow four weapons to be brandished out one side and three out of the other. They then dragged the body through the residential area of the Royal Commission housing area, while shooting into the air and at selected buildings. They were heard to be shouting “jihad, jihad.”

The girls’ and boys’ high schools were hit in what locals see as a symbolic gesture, and the local McDonald’s restaurant was raked with fire. Plate glass windows were peppered with bullet holes, and an illuminated sign shot out. The body finally ended up in a gutter outside a bank in the residential area. An eyewitness who manages a local business told Arab News that: “The body had all the clothes ripped away except for shreds of underwear and shoes. It was just lying in the gutter; it was horrible to see.”

After the incident, the area was swamped by police — but it appears the gunmen escaped as the Holiday Inn was next to come under fire. Located off the main highway but on the route from the Royal Commission housing area to Yanbu Al-Bahr, it is accessible only through a tight security check. Somehow, the terrorists got through and riddled the hotel’s façade and a security shack with bullets. Unconfirmed reports say that a security guard at the Arabian Homes compound adjacent to the hotel was shot and killed.

According to other eyewitnesses, around 11 o’clock in the morning, a white vehicle was chased by police through Yanbu Al Bahr. After a violent confrontation with the police in a crowded main street, more deaths were reported after the vehicle exploded in flames, leaving at least one terrorist burning to death.

One eyewitness Mohammed, said: “I was in my shop when I heard the gunfire. One bullet came through the steel window screen and then I saw the car. It was a white Kia SUV and the police were shooting at it. They forced it over to the central strip with gunfire and shot the passengers and driver. One passenger fled the vehicle and opened fire on the police car, yelling ‘jihad, jihad.’ The police killed him. It was then that the car burst into flames.”

Another witness, who worked at a gas station told Arab News that he remembered the Kia. A customer only two days previously had bought a white SUV for cash at a garage close by — an indication that the attack was planned well in advance.

In the late afternoon, the city was quiet but police and National Guard presence became more obvious and patrol cars prowled the streets in twos and threes. However, the sound of gunfire had not finished for the day.

At maghreb prayer, the mosque in camp five on the Royal Commission residential area broadcast the imam’s call for restraint and peace. “This is not Islam,” he said in his khutba to the faithful, “This is wrong.” A little later, multiple shots were heard and we witnessed National Guard and police patrol cars blocking streets and holding back a gathering crowd.

British Ambassador Sherhard Cowper-Coles arrived in Yanbu by late afternoon to assess the situation with local officials.

“In the name of common humanity and in the name of our joint suffering at the hands of terrorists and our common determination to defeat the scourge of terrorism, the government of the United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Saudi Arabia,” he told Arab News.