ALKHOBAR, 1 June 2004 — Nine-year-old Hashim can’t sleep, too vivid is the memory of his encounter with one of the four hostage-takers the Oasis Compound in Alkhobar on Saturday.
When the family went into hiding at a neighbor’s house, it was 8 a.m. When security forces finally led him, his sister and his parents to safety it was after 9 p.m.
Hashim says he can still hear the gunfire. A Canadian national, his father Abu Hashim (full name withheld) is of Iraqi origin and works for a leading company here.
It was around 7.45 in the morning when Hashim woke up to a strange noise. “I never heard gunshots except in the movies,” he said.
“I didn’t know what was it all about and why anyone would start firing in a compound,” he said.
Hashim said his father went to the first floor, while his mother Hannan was busy in the kitchen.
“I played my computer game. Around 9.30 someone knocked on my door. It was an armed man in military uniform. “His arm was bleeding,” Hashim said. He was scared but kept his cool.
“He asked me whether my father was a Muslim and when I said yes he wanted to know if I’m lying.”
Hashim insisted he was telling the truth. At that moment his mother entered the room wearing hijab. The terrorist repeated his question and when got an affirmative reply left the house. “Hashim saved my life,” Abu Hashim said.
Hashim says he was worried for the gunman, who was bleeding profusely.
In the lobby of a local hotel where the family has been temporarily put up, the boy is trying to leave the nightmare behind him. His friend Muhammad, an Egyptian and resident of the same compound and a year elder, was in the school when the drama started at the compound.
“One of my relatives came to pick me up and I was worried for my mother, who was alone at home,” he said, adding his father was at work. In the late hours of Saturday he was united with his parents and moved to the hotel.
