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American diplomatic posts in Saudi Arabia have been
closed at least through Tuesday after an assault by gunmen on the U.S.
consulate in Jeddah. Officials say five non-American consulate employees
were killed in the incident along with four members of the Saudi national
guard who responded to the attack and three of the gunmen.
Officials here are still trying to piece together the circumstances of
the mid-morning attack in the Saudi port on the Red Sea.
But they say the gunmen did manage to get inside the heavily guarded
compound and killed five non-American consulate employees and wounded at
least four others before being subdued.
The staffers killed and
wounded were apparently in a building near the gate where the attackers
entered. The American staff members were in another part of the compound
and took refuge in a fortified room.
One American was said to have been slightly injured during the
incident, but not by the attackers.
The attack was the latest in a series of assaults targeting foreigners
in Saudi Arabia in the last 18 months.
At a White House photo session with Iraqi interim President Ghazi
al-Yawar, President Bush paid tribute to Saudi authorities for responding
to the attack as quickly as they did, and expressed "heartfelt"
condolences for the Saudi guardsmen killed in the attack.
Mr. Bush said the incident shows that terrorists are continuing to
target the United States and its friends in the Middle East:
"The
attacks in Saudi Arabia remind us that the terrorists are still on the
move," said Mr. Bush. "They're interested in affecting the will of free
countries. They want us to leave Saudi Arabia. They want us to leave Iraq.
They want us to grow timid and weary in the face of their willingness to
kill randomly, and kill innocent people."
Mr. Bush said while some of the attackers were killed, others were
captured and he is confident that Saudi authorities will share any
information gained about the attack with the United States.
Officials here said the affiliation of the attackers, if any, remains
unclear. Saudi officials referred to them as members of a "deviant group," a term they commonly
use for Islamic militants.
The State Department said the Jeddah consulate, the U.S. embassy in
Riyahd and the other U.S. consulate, in Dhahran, would be closed at least
through Tuesday for a review of security.
Because of attacks against foreigners in Saudi Arabia and recurring
terrorism threats, the three U.S. diplomatic facilities in the country
were recently designated as non-dependent posts. That means that families
of diplomats can no longer reside in the country.
The latest State Department travel alert for Saudi Arabia issued a
month ago warned U.S. citizens to defer travel to the country, and
strongly urged private Americans already in Saudi Arabia to depart.
Despite the warnings, officials say the resident American community in
Saudi Arabia still numbers in the thousands. | 
