RIYADH, 2 June 2004 — The Japanese Embassy has denied any Japanese nationals were killed in the Alkhobar attacks.
Takehiro Kagawa, a counselor at the Japanese Embassy, said claims made in a purported Al-Qaeda statement that its gunmen had “slaughtered” a Japanese were not true.
The claim was attributed to top Al-Qaeda operative Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin on an Islamist website.
“We noticed that statement... and we checked the authenticity of the report with Saudi authorities as well as with our own sources,” Kagawa said. “We found no evidence of any Japanese casualty during the Alkhobar shootout and hostage drama.”
The Al-Qaeda statement also detailed the sequence of the attack on oil firms and residential compounds in Alkhobar and vowed to rid the Arabian Peninsula of “infidels”.
The statement said the militants first struck the Petroleum Center, which it claimed is affiliated with US oil firm Halliburton “which Osama Bin Laden mentioned in a speech about its role in the US occupation of Muslim states.”
Asked about the fate of Japanese living in the Oasis Compound, Kagawa said all seven Japanese nationals living in the compound “are safe.”
Around 1,500 Japanese, mostly in top technical, professional and executive positions, work in the Eastern Province, according to the counselor. He said the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the attack.
“Japan will continue its utmost efforts to secure the safety of Japanese nationals residing in or visiting foreign countries,” a ministry statement said.
