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US consulate attack 'over'
06/12/2004 13:43 - (SA)
Jeddah - At least four members of the Saudi national guard were killed and several wounded on Monday when they clashed with gunmen who stormed the US consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, police said.
Three gunmen were also killed, according to Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, which said the attack was now over.
Earlier the station had said that one gunman was killed while two others were arrested and two remained under siege within the consulate compound.
A US official said all Americans at the consulate were safe and accounted for.
Saudi Arabia has been fighting a renewed wave of violence, which it blames on the al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and which has killed some 90 people and wounded hundreds since May 2003.
US interests in the oil-rich desert kingdom have been a particular target in 10 years of deadly militant attacks against foreigners.
In 1996, an explosives-laden truck destroyed a building at a US military base at Khobar in the east of Saudi Arabia, killing 19 US nationals.
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