Westerner dragged naked-Yanbu Saudi Arabia

Black Saturday in YanbuEssam Al-Ghalib, Arab News
May 1, 2004.



A Westerner's body was stripped naked and dragged behind a car as suspected Islamic militants made their getaway after a deadly attack in the northwest Saudi city of Yanbu. Five Westerners and three militants as well as a National Guard officer were killed, while as many as 50 people were wounded, in the attacks


A hostage was dragged naked behind the getaway car. (Source: US Embassy/NY Times

Among those killed in the attack were "the top three officials at an upgrade project being carried out by Swiss-based firm ABB Lummus at the Saudi petrochemical firm YANPET, jointly owned by U.S. Exxon Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC)." Source: Reuters


While dragging LaGuardia’s body, the attackers shouted to bystanders and encouraged them to join the resistance against the American occupation of Iraq.

At approximately 6.30 a.m., at least four gunmen, possibly five, stormed the offices of ABB Lummus, a Texas-based engineering, procurement and construction contracting company working for Yanpet. It left five expatriate employees dead. A Filipino bus driver told Arab News that at around 7.00 a.m. he heard gunshots fired from inside the building. A frightened employee came rushing out yelling: “Take cover, they are shooting!” He said he then saw five teenage Saudis armed with M16s and AK-47s leave the building. The terrorists tied the body of a white male in his early thirties, to the rear of a gray Toyota Land Cruiser. At that point the police arrived.
Following an exchange of gunfire, the terrorists split up, speeding off in different directions, with one vehicle dragging the dead body for approximately three kilometers. Another Filipino, on his way to the Royal Commission, saw the speeding car dragging the body. He told Arab News that a teenage Saudi standing on the passenger seat was firing into the air.
The violence began Saturday when four Saudi men sprayed ABB's offices with gunfire, then tied the body of one victim to the bumper of a car and drove to the Ibn Hayyan Secondary Boys School. Saudi schoolchildren said the attackers summoned them to watch the body being dragged.
Two Americans, two Britons, an Australian and a Saudi died in the attack. Police chased the attackers and killed them in a gunbattle.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Lisa Swenarski said the body of one American was "badly mutilated." She could not confirm the body had been dragged behind a car.

ABB on Monday identified the dead as Americans Stephen LaGuardia, 62, and Philip Coplen, 53; Britons Michael Hardy, 44, and Michael McGillen, 52; and Australian Anthony Mason, 57. All worked for ABB except McGillen, who was a contractor. The Saudi who was killed did not work for ABB and was not identified


Among those killed in the attack were "the top three officials at an upgrade project being carried out by Swiss-based firm ABB Lummus at the Saudi petrochemical firm YANPET, jointly owned by U.S. Exxon Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC)." Source: Reuters While dragging LaGuardia’s body, the attackers shouted to bystanders and encouraged them to join the resistance against the American occupation of Iraq.


Article from the perpetrators:

As soon as we entered, we encountered the car of a Briton, the investment director of the company, whom Allah had sent to his death. He is the one whose mobile phone on the seat of his car, with the blood on it, they kept showing [on television]. We left him in the street.

”We went out, and drove our car. We had tied the infidel by one leg [behind the car]. We left the company [compound] and met the patrols. The first to arrive was the jeep of a patrol, with one soldier, and we killed him. With the rest we exchanged fire, and we got through.

“Allah be thanked, we had learned more than one route to the second site. When the patrols blocked the way, [we] had no chance of returning by the same route, so we went another way — via the coast, and then via Khobar, that is, the Damam highway — a distance of four kilometers.

”The infidel’s clothing was torn to shreds, and he was naked in the street. The street was full of people, as this was during work hours, and everyone watched the infidel being dragged, praise and gratitude be to Allah.