Gunmen hit US consulate in Saudi Arabia

Smoke rises from the US consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Picture / Reuters

JEDDAH - Attackers struck at the United States consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah last night, seizing hostages and killing four guards.

Five gunmen reportedly breached the heavily guarded building after an explosion outside the consulate. 

Reports said those killed were Saudi guards and the hostages were also Saudis. Early today security sources said Saudi forces had killed three attackers and arrested two others.

No US diplomats had been killed, injured or taken hostage, a US embassy spokeswoman said.

"We have accounted for all American diplomats on the compound in Jeddah. There were no American casualties. None are being held hostage. Our local workforce was also on duty this morning. We are still in the process of accounting for all of them," said Carol Kalin.

Witnesses said a fire had erupted in the building.

"I heard a heavy exchange of fire," one bystander told Reuters.

Flames could be seen and two plumes of smoke were rising from the building.

Roger Harrison of Arab News told Sky News shooting broke out followed by the smoke.

He said the second explosion in front of the heavily fortified consulate breached the wall, allowing the gunmen in around 11am (about 8pm NZT).

A witness told Sky that around 300 armed security staff had sealed off the area.

US embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said: "I can confirm there has been an attack on the US consulate in Jeddah. The incident is ongoing, with Saudi security forces trying to secure the building."

It was not immediately known if it was an attack by Muslim militants seeking to drive Westerners out of the kingdom.

"We have an emergency case," an official inside the building told Reuters. He gave no other details.

The US embassy in the capital, Riyadh, and another consulate in the eastern city of Dhahran were closed as a precaution, a US spokeswoman said.

Sky's foreign editor, Tim Marshall, said there had been an increase in "chatter"over recent weeks, indicating the possible planning of a terror attack.

Security surrounding the consulate is heavy with several checkpoints at the entrance.

Marshall said he was baffled as to how the gunmen got through three checkpoints to get to the consulate.

Since May last year Saudi Arabia has been battling a wave of al Qaeda violence aimed at foreigners and security forces.

On May 12 last year three cars packed with bombs exploded in a residential compound in Riyadh, killing 35 people and wounding 200.

Since then, there have been at least 20 terror attacks or clashes between Saudi police and Islamic militants and al Qaeda-linked groups.

Most brazenly, four gunmen entered a residential compound for oil workers in Khobar last month and killed 22 people.

About 9000 Americans live in the Jeddah consular district, which encompasses the whole of western Saudi Arabia from Yemen to Jordan.

Chronology of attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia

Nov 13, 1995 - Blast near US-run military training centre in Riyadh kills five Americans, two Indians, wounds 60 people.

June 25, 1996 - Bomb in fuel truck kills 19 US soldiers, wounds nearly 400 people at US military housing complex in eastern city of Khobar.

Nov 17, 2000 - Car bomb kills Briton Christopher Rodway, an engineer at Riyadh military hospital, and wounds his wife Jane.

Nov 22, 2000 - Car bomb in Riyadh wounds two British men and a British woman employed by a Saudi firm 50 per cent owned by US aircraft giant Boeing, and an Irish woman.

Dec 15, 2000 - David Brown, a British employee of Coca Cola International, badly burned in Khobar by a bomb in his car.

March 15, 2001 - Bomb wounds a Briton and an Egyptian near a Riyadh bookshop.

May 2, 2001 - Parcel bomb seriously wounds American doctor Gary Hatch at Saad Medical Centre in Khobar.

Oct 6, 2001 - Two foreigners including one American are killed and four wounded in Khobar.

June 20, 2002 - Car bomb kills British banker Simon John Veness in Riyadh.

Sept 29, 2002 - German is killed by explosion in his car in Riyadh.

Feb 20, 2003 - Briton working for defence contractor BAE Systems is shot dead in Riyadh.

May 12, 2003 - Suicide bombers attack housing compounds in Riyadh, killing 35 people. At least 200 are wounded.

Nov 9, 2003 - Suspected al Qaeda suicide bombers blow up Riyadh compound housing foreigners and Saudis, killing 18.

May 1, 2004 - Gunmen kill five Westerners and two police in a shooting spree in the oil centre Yanbu.

May 29, 2004 - Militants attack oil company and housing compounds in Khobar, then flee to the city's Oasis housing compound, taking hostages. Seven Saudi police are killed.

May 30, 2004 - Saudi commandos storm Oasis compound and free 41 hostages. Twenty-two civilians are killed including an American, a Briton and an Italian. Three gunmen escape.

June 6, 2004 - Saudi gunmen kill Simon Cumbers, an Irish cameraman working for the BBC, and seriously wound his British colleague Frank Gardner as they film in Riyadh.

June 8, 2004 - Gunmen kill an American employee of US contracting firm Vinnell in Riyadh.

June 12 - Kenneth Scroggs, a US national, is shot dead in Riyadh in the suburb of Malazz. Al Qaeda claims responsibility.

June 18 - Kidnappers behead Paul Johnson, an employee of US defence contractor Lockheed Martin. Johnson, the first Westerner to be abducted in Saudi Arabia, was seized on June 12.

Aug 3 - An Irish civil engineer who worked for a Saudi firm is shot dead in his office in eastern Riyadh.

Sept 15 - Edward Muirhead-Smith, a British engineer employed by electronics company Marconi, is killed in Riyadh in attack claimed by al Qaeda militants.

Sept 26 - Frenchman, Laurent Barbot, is shot dead in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah by suspected al Qaeda militants.

Dec 6 - Attackers storm the US consulate in Jeddah, killing four Saudi guards and taking 18 local staff hostage.

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