The Saudi branch of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror group used an Islamist web site to claim yesterday's unprecedented attack on the US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah, stating that some assailants had managed to flee after the operation. "Your brothers of the squadron of the martyr Abu Annas al-Shami stormed one of the bastions of the American crusaders in the Arabian peninsula, in Jeddah," the statement said. "They were able to withdraw from the consulate and reach a safe place, after losing two martyrs who covered the retreat of the mujahedeen, two of whom were wounded and are being treated," said the statement signed by the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula.
The attackers raided the Red Sea beachfront consulate compound in broad daylight in a hail of bullets and explosions that set off a fire and sent black smoke billowing into the sky. The Saudi interior ministry said in a statement issued early today that five members of a "deviant group" hurled bombs at one of the gates of the US consulate as a vehicle belonging to the mission was driving in. The five men "then managed to get in the area surrounding the consulate and tried to torch one of the buildings, attacking those who were on the site," said the ministry statement, read on state television. Security forces rushed to the scene and besieged the assailants, killing three on the spot and wounding the two others, one of whom later died in hospital, the statement said. "As a result of this criminal action, five people on the scene - a Yemeni, a Sudanese, a Palestinian, a Pakistani and Sri Lankan - were killed," said the interior ministry statement.
US officials said all Americans at the consulate were safe and accounted for, but five non-American employees and contractors were killed. The Saudi interior ministry said eight people were slightly wounded: two Yemenis, two Pakistanis, a Lebanese, a Palestinian, an Indian, and a Sri Lankan. Five security officers were injured, a number of whom were subsequently discharged from hospital.
The five gunmen claimed to be members of an "Al-Fallujah Brigade", in a call to the authorities made shortly after attacking the consulate, Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, said in Washington. US President George W Bush said the raid proved that terrorists were still active and the Saudi government vowed there would be no let up in its fight against Islamic extremists. "The attacks in Saudi Arabia remind us that the terrorists are still on the move," Bush said in Washington. "They want us to leave Saudi Arabia, they want us to leave Iraq, they want us to grow timid and weary."
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. The police officer at the scene said four Saudi national guardsmen had been killed, and two were seen lying on the ground outside the compound after apparently being hit by bullets. But a Saudi security source denied any had been killed. As US authorities tried to assure the safety of Americans in the rest of the city and Saudi forces sealed off the consulate, the US embassy in Riyadh and consulate in the eastern oil city of Dhahran were closed as "a precautionary measure". |