JEDDAH,
Saudi Arabia
, December 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Gunmen suspected
of links to Al-Qaeda stormed the
US
consulate in the Saudi
port
of
Jeddah
Monday, December 6, triggering a bloody three-hour siege that left
five staff and three attackers dead.
Four
Saudi guardsmen were also reported killed in a shoot-out with the
gunmen after they pushed into the
Red Sea
beachside compound in a hail of bullets and explosions that set off a
fire and sent black smoke billowing into the sky, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
brazen attack was the first of its kind on a diplomatic mission in
Saudi Arabia
but was the latest in a series of bombings and shootings blamed on
Al-Qaeda in the oil-rich kingdom since May 2003.
Saudi
security forces sealed off the consulate and two plumes of smoke could
be seen rising from the building, witnesses told Reuters.
“We
have an emergency case,” an official inside the building told
Reuters. He gave no details. Around 200 police and national guard were
surrounding the area.
The
gunmen attacked the consulate compound overlooking the beachfront in
the
Red Sea
city in a hail of gunfire and explosions which set off a fire and sent
plumes of black smoke into the sky, AFP reported.
Hostages
Initial
reports said staff at the consulate had been seized by the attackers
before the security forces moved in, but a police officer at the scene
later said no-one had been held hostage.
“A
gang affiliated to the deviant group hurled explosives on the gate of
the
US
consulate in Jeddah at
11 am
(0800 GMT) Monday and then entered the area surrounding the
consulate,” the Saudi interior ministry said.
Saudi
authorities use the term “deviant group” to refer to suspected
sympathizers of Al-Qaeda who have killed more than 90 people and
wounded hundreds in the past 19 months.
“Security
forces dealt with them immediately and brought the situation under
control. Three of the attackers were killed and two were arrested
after they were wounded. The authorities concerned are following up
the incident,” said the ministry statement, quoted by the official
SPA news agency.
A
police officer at the scene told AFP at least four national guardsmen
were killed and several more wounded when they clashed with the
gunmen.
The
ministry did not mention casualties among the security forces, but
said it would issue a more detailed account later.
No
US
Casualties
|
|
Saudi security forces clash with the attackers. |
US
officials, for their part, said all Americans at the consulate were
safe and accounted for, although Carol Kalin, spokeswoman at the
US
embassy in the capital
Riyadh
, told AFP two non-American staff members were wounded.
The
embassy was still in the process of confirming the status of the rest
of local staff members, she added.
Police
initially said consulate employees were taken hostage during the
attack, which lasted about three hours.
But
a police officer at the scene later said some 18 staff members had
taken refuge in the administrative section of the mission and no one
was taken hostage.
A
witness told AFP Saudi national guardsmen pushed into the compound in
a blaze of gunfire, while police cars and an ambulance rushed to the
scene.
Two
Saudi security men outside the main gate were hit by bullets from
within the consulate but it was not known if they were among the four
reported dead.
As
US authorities tried to assure the safety of Americans in the rest of
the city, the
US
embassy in
Riyadh
and consulate in the eastern oil city of
Dhahran
closed as “a precautionary measure,” Kalin said.
The
attack, which followed a lull in anti-foreign attacks, shocked the
relatively tolerant and safe city of
Jeddah
.
“It
shows that despite Saudi claims to the contrary, Al-Qaeda can still
mount operations in the country,” Simon Henderson, a British
consultant on Saudi Arabia, told Reuters.
U.S.
security precautions at the consulate had paid off, but the attack
proved that Al-Qaeda militants were still active.
“Worryingly
there remain concerns not only about the effectiveness of Saudi
security forces but also about their loyalty,”
Henderson
told Reuters in
London
.
Bush
Thanks Saudi
Commenting
on the attack, US President George W. Bush said it Jeddah showed that
“terrorists are still on the move” and thanked Saudi authorities
for their response.
“The
attacks in
Saudi Arabia
remind us that the terrorists are still on the move,” Bush said,
according to AFP.
“They
want us to leave
Saudi Arabia
, they want us to leave
Iraq
, they want us to grow timid and weary.”
Speaking
as he met with
Iraq
's interim President Ghazi Al-Yawar in the Oval Office, Bush said the
attack showed how important it was to hold Iraqi elections set for
January 30 on schedule.
“A
free society in
Iraq
will be a major defeat for the terrorists,” said Bush.
“I
want to thank the Saudi government for reacting as quickly as they
did.”
Hundreds
of people suspected of being linked to the Al-Qaeda network of
Saudi-born Osama bin Laden have been detained in regular sweeps by
security forces as they battle the violence.
Many
suspected militants and security forces have also been killed in
regular shootouts.
Americans
have often been on the receiving end of the spate of attacks which
began in May last year. Attacks on US interests in
Saudi Arabia
began nearly a decade ago.
In
1996, an explosives-laden truck destroyed a
US
military housing complex in the eastern city of
Al-Khobar
, killing 19
US
nationals.
The
US
consulate fronts on to the beach in the heart of Jeddah, dubbed the
Paris of Arabia or the “Bride of the
Red Sea
” -- a bustling mix of modern and ancient where old mud houses vie
for space with skyscrapers.
