Amid the fast-paced terror attack on the luxury compound in Khobar, some residents were able to send messages to the outside world, via cellphone and even e-mail.
The BBC News received shocking accounts from relatives of members of the Oasis compound that unfolded like a real-life action movie.
One resident phoned her brother-in-law, Oliver Alabaster, who told the British agency, “She awoke to see black-hooded men enter a house across the street. She then saw her neighbor run out the back door, and then saw her shot in the legs.
“Now the gunmen are holed up in the house next to hers, and there is continued gunfire between the attackers and the security forces.
“Her greatest fear is that there may be more militants roaming the compound, that bullets could penetrate the walls where she is hiding, and that they could shoot their way into her house,” said Alabaster.
One Briton living at the compound said he saw the violence erupt as he drove to work yesterday morning.
“I heard five or six shots and saw a couple of guys fall over in the distance,” Colin Hewetson told BBC News. “I thought I’d better get out of there, so I turned around and headed back to my compound.
“The light armored personnel carriers, which normally patrol the area, were dashing all over the place. Soldiers were fanning out around the building and closing off access on both sides of the [driveway].”
Diana Ras-Rongen, a Briton in Saudi Arabia, said by e-mail, “My neighbor called [another couple] to ask if there was a hostage situation going on, and they said they were actually the hostages!
“The other residents of the compound were brought to a safe location where soldiers are protecting them.” With Post Wire Services