Militants invade U.S. compound in Saudi Arabia

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Lobbing grenades, militants invaded Jiddah's heavily guarded U.S. Consulate on Monday, attacking staffers and others in the compound until Saudi security forces stormed in. Nine people, none American, were killed in the attack, which was claimed by al-Qaida and showed how vulnerable Saudi Arabia remains to Islamic extremist violence.

The group Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said the attack was part of its "war on the crusaders and the Jews .... [aimed at] getting them out of the Arabian peninsula."

Monday's assault began when the attackers sneaked on foot behind an embassy car that was entering the consulate through a gate, then lobbed grenades at guards to take control of the gate area, said Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the Interior Ministry spokesman.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising in the air shortly after the attack. About 20 minutes after fighting their way in, the attackers telephoned emergency services, claimed to be holding up to 17 people hostage and warned Saudi forces not to attack, said Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah.

Those held at gunpoint were mostly either in the courtyard-like area to apply for visas, or were employees who worked in that area, a senior Saudi official in Washington said.

As the call was ending, Saudi security forces stormed the area and fought a short gunbattle, the official said. Al-Jubeir said the fight was over within three or four minutes, and the troops then worked for about three hours after that searching the compound to ensure it was secure. He denied earlier reports that the standoff lasted four hours.

Employees rushed into a safe area, and the attackers never made it inside the consulate's buildings, al-Turki said. He denied anyone was held hostage, but said the attackers did hurt those they came across in the courtyard area.

Five consulate employees, all non-Americans, were killed and another four injured, the State Department said. Three of the five attackers also died in the shootout and the other two were captured wounded, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

A Saudi security official, quoted on Saudi television station al-Ikhbariya, said one of the wounded attackers later died in custody. The official said that besides the attackers, the five dead were a Yemeni, a Sudanese, a Filipino, a Pakistani and a Sri Lankan. The official said 13 people were wounded, including five Saudi security men.

Saudi officials blamed the attack on a "deviant" group -- the government's way of identifying al-Qaida extremists it holds responsible for a string of terror strikes over the past two years.

Saudi and U.S. officials have blamed al-Qaida, led by Osama bin Laden, for all major militant attacks in the kingdom since May 2003.

The Saudi government has cracked down hard, arresting and killing many key militants, and quieting the attacks somewhat. But in May, 22 people were killed, including 19 foreigners, by militants who took over a resort complex in Khobar and held hostages for 25 hours.

In June, militants in Riyadh, the capital, kidnapped and beheaded Paul M. Johnson Jr., an engineer for a U.S. defense company.

Monday's attack showed that extremists are still capable of carrying out sophisticated strikes despite the government crackdown.

"This was a very hard target to attack, and they pulled it off," said Diaa Rashwan, a Cairo-based expert on Muslim militants, predicting the attack would boost morale among extremists. "For the government, this was a security failure. For the militants, this was a military victory."

The Saudi Cabinet quickly convened and issued a statement condemning the attack and reaffirming the government's determination "to fight terrorism in all its aspects and to hunt down its perpetrators until they are rooted out and the society is cleaned of them."

The consulate -- like all U.S. diplomatic buildings and other Western compounds in Saudi Arabia -- has been heavily fortified and guarded since last year's series of bombings against targets housing foreigners. Guard posts are located on the corners of the compound and a road open to civilian traffic runs along part of the wall.

In Riyadh, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said four of the slain employees were killed held administrative jobs and the fifth was a private guard. Kalin said it was unclear if any of the U.S. Marine guards inside the consulate were involved in the gunbattle.

About 9,000 Americans live in the Jiddah consular district, which encompasses western Saudi Arabia from Yemen to Jordan. The population of Jiddah is estimated at more than 2 million.

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Associated Press writers Tarek Al-Issawi in Dubai and John Solomon in Washington contributed to this report.