Al-Qaeda links to Jeddah attack
2004-12-06 16:41
Jeddah - Gunmen suspected of links to al-Qaeda stormed the US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah on Monday, triggering a three-hour siege and a shootout that left three attackers and four guardsmen dead, police and officials said.
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.
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.
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 11:00 (08:00 GMT)on Monday and then entered the area surrounding the consulate," the interior ministry said.
Saudi authorities use the term "deviant group" to refer to suspected sympathisers 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.
Americans 'safe and accounted for'
A police officer at the scene said at least four national guardsmen were killed and several more wounded when they clashed with the gunmen.
US officials said all Americans at the consulate were safe and accounted for, although Carol Kalin, spokesperson at the US embassy in the capital Riyadh, said 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 about 18 staff members had taken refuge in the administrative section of the mission and no one was taken hostage.
A witness said Saudi national guardsmen pushed into the compound in a blaze of gunfire, while police cars and an ambulance rushed to the scene.
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 Islamist militants and security forces have also been killed in regular shootouts.