Al-Qaida extremists carried out the deadly raid, Saudi officials believe.

Al-Qaida extremists carried out the deadly raid, Saudi officials believe.
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Lobbing grenades, militants invaded Jiddah's heavily guarded U.S. consulate Monday, attacking staffers and others in the compound until Saudi security forces stormed in. Nine people, none American, were killed in a gunbattle that showed how vulnerable Saudi Arabia still is to Islamic extremist attacks.
The bold assault, the worst in the kingdom since May, demonstrated that Saudi Arabia's crackdown on Al-Qaida is still far from successful in the native land of terror leader Osama bin Laden.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Saudi officials blamed 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.
U.S. response
President Bush said the attack showed "terrorists are still on the move," trying to intimidate Americans and force the United States to withdraw from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Dhahran were closed to the public for two days, as was the Jiddah consulate. The Embassy urged the thousands of Americans in the country -- many of whom already live under extraordinarily tight security -- to "exercise utmost security precautions."
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. The attackers also used incendiary grenades designed to create fires and to send up heavy smoke, he said.
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.
Short gunbattle
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.
Attack was expected
Al-Jubeir said officials had suspected an attack was coming. "We had indications that led us to increase the level of alert and to beef up security in Jiddah and in other areas," said al-Jubeir, noting the government was at a higher threat level.
He said attackers in the telephone call identified themselves as the "Fallujah Brigades," a name referring to the Iraqi city that U.S. troops stormed last month to uproot insurgents.