01 June 2004	Tuesday	12 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

AL-KHOBAR: The Saudi security forces continued their hunt on Monday for three terrorists who escaped when Special Forces raided the Oasis compound where they were holding hostages. At least 41 of the hostages were later rescued.

The three extremists had managed to escape using some of the hostages as shield. They later took up a car of a Saudi citizen by force and used that to flee from the scene.

There were hold-ups at some places in the Kingdom. In the afternoon at around 4pm Saudi time, there was also a hold up on the main Dhahran Street in Al-Khobar. The security level has definitely been raised very significantly. New checkpoints have reportedly sprung up across the country, specially in the Dammam-Al-Khobar areas.

The city of Jubail, some 120 kilometres from Al-Khobar, regarded as the hub of the Saudi petrochemical industry, was under very tight security. Outsiders were not allowed even to enter the area, unless they have invitations from the plants to visit.

Security at Saudi Aramco is also at the top level and Saudi authorities are taking every measure to soothe the jittery nerves of the oil and energy markets by saying that all measures have been taken to protect the oil and energy infrastructure and that there is no danger to those.

The highways in and out of Al-Khobar and Dammam are also under very strict surveillance. A number of checkpoints have been established at highways to keep an eye on people entering or leaving the cities.

Throughout the day different rumours kept circulating in the broader city, keeping people jittery. Some of the multinational companies reportedly had closed all their entrance gates so as to ensure that no one barges in. Due to uncertain reasons, some energy multinationals had reportedly asked their employees not to move around and stay "wherever they are" for the time being.