Riyadh: About 10 Saudis and foreigners were killed when gunmen went on a shooting spree in the Eastern oil city of Al-Khobar yesterday (May 29, 2004), Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz said, quoted by the official SPA news agency.

"This morning, four individuals stormed locations in the Eastern Province and killed many people, including a young girl ... They are now besieged. Around 10 Saudis and non-Saudis were killed," he told visitors in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom accused "this deviant group" - a reference to suspected sympathizers of the al-Qaeda terror network - of "seeking to undermine your economy and (scare away) foreigners so that they will not come" to Saudi Arabia.

Talking to another delegation, Abdullah put the number of attackers "who have taken refuge in a compound where they are besieged" at "four or five".