A statement claiming to speak in the name of the al Qaeda and carried on website on Sunday vowed to "cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels".
It was posted on the website in the wake of weekend carnage in which at least 19 people were killed in attacks, claimed by al Qaeda, and hostage-taking in the Saudi oil city of Al-Khobar.
"We renew our determination to repel the crusader forces and their arrogance, to liberate the land of Muslims, to apply Sharia (Islamic law) and cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of infidels," said the message on the website http//alsaha.fares.net.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.
It said the attacks and hostage-taking were conducted by "four mujahedeen," or Islamic fighters. The website message, signed by the "Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula", headed by Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, a Saudi, said only one of the fighters was killed, naming him as "the hero Nimer bin Suhaj al-Baqmi".
Muqrin tops a Saudi list of most-wanted terror suspects, which has been reduced to 18 since it was released amid a massive crackdown on suspected al Qaeda sympathisers. "The (other) mujahedeen successfully withdrew from the site, despite the strict security measures (by the authorities), toward safety," said the message.
An employee at the residential compound where the hostages were freed by security forces, told AFP that two hostage-takers had been killed and the other two captured during the operation.
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