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Guards died thwarting suicide bombing

Saudi officials say oil plant guards were killed in car bomb blasts

Mourners attend the funeral of the two security guards killed while thwarting Friday's attack.

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Two security guards who helped thwart Friday's attempted bombings at a Saudi Arabian oil-processing complex died at a hospital, the Interior Ministry said Saturday, confirming reports from the previous day.

The two would-be suicide bombers were killed in the blast that occurred a mile and a half from the facility's main gate.

The ministry announced the deaths of the two guards on the Web site of the Saudi Press Agency.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also known as al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility on an Arab-language Web site for the attempted bombings at the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil company plant. (Full story)

It was the first time a Saudi oil facility has been targeted.

According to the Saudi government, two explosives-packed cars made it through the outer ring of the plant's defenses. Before the attackers could go farther, they were confronted by the special forces troops who guard all major petroleum facilities.

The attack by the bombers was part of a larger plan to attack "the crusaders" and stop them from stealing the wealth and oil of Muslims, according to the information on the Saudi Web site.

The oil facility targeted is one of the world's largest, processing two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's petroleum exports.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has repeatedly accused the West of "stealing" oil from Arab nations by not paying enough for the resource.

In December 2004, bin Laden, who remains at large, issued a statement calling for a special tax in Iraq and the Gulf, and urged his followers to attack oil facilities.

CNN's Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.