Saudis tightens security: terrorist suicide attack sparks fears at Abqaiq.
Abqaiq on security alert after attack
Saudi Arabia has tightened security at oil facilities after the country's anti-terror chief escaped a suicide attack, according to guards at Abqaiq, the world's biggest oil processing plant.
"Thursday night we received a call to tighten security measures and car inspection at all gates," one security guard was cited as saying in a Reuters report.
"Even [Saudi] Aramco employees undergo inspection. There's a lack of trust as militants disguised in Aramco's cars in 2006 attacked the facility," he added.
Al Qaeda leaders have repeatedly called for attacks on oil facilities and Western interests in the Gulf to destabilise US-allied rulers and harm the economies of Western countries by blocking the flow of oil.
Abqaiq is a key Saudi target for Al Qaeda given it is a major plant processing crude supplies from the giant Ghawar field before shipping off to offloading facilities including the world’s largest Ras Tanura.