A deadly assault on the US Consulate in Saudi Arabia dealt a severe blow to the kingdom's elaborate overtures to install security, reports Rasheed Abou-Alsamh from Jeddah In a bloody attack on the heavily fortified United States Consulate here Monday morning, at least five Muslim militants shot their way into the compound, killing five local staff of the consulate. A US diplomat and several locally hired staff were also wounded. Two independent sources confirmed that Monica K Lemieux, a vice-consul for political affairs, was shot in the back, along with her Pakistani driver and a Filipino carpenter, Wenceslao Pescante Jr, who were all entering the consulate at the same time in one vehicle. A bloodied Lemieux was dragged from the vehicle by her driver and hidden in a small room until she could be evacuated for medical treatment. The driver and Pescante were later rescued by Saudi forces and taken to the nearby Soliman Fakeeh Hospital for treatment. Pescante, 56, and an employee of the consulate for the past three years, underwent surgery for shrapnel wounds in his left arm and stomach, and a bullet lodged in his right knee. Seven severely injured persons were also taken to the government-run King Fahd Hospital, but no more information was available after security forces sealed off the hospital. Saudi Special Forces stormed the compound at around 1pm after several hours of fierce gunbattles, killing three of the terrorists. Two of the terrorists were wounded and captured. Hundreds of Saudi policemen surrounded the consulate, blocking off all the main roads near the diplomatic mission. Military helicopters hovered overhead. Hundreds of spent bullet shells were found on the streets surrounding the consulate. The attack happened at 11am when the five terrorists drove up to the consulate in a white Nissan car, and jumped out near the Hail Street entrance to the huge US Consulate compound, which occupies an entire city-block in the posh Al-Hamra district. They then shot their way in behind the consulate vehicles that were going in. Security sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the terrorists immediately went to the room housing the US Marines, who provide internal security for the consulate, and set it on fire. Huge plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the consulate, visible for miles around. The fate of the Marines was not clear. One Saudi reporter who gained entrance to the consulate as the assault was underway, and who asked for anonymity, claimed he saw two dead Americans being taken out. His claim could not be independently confirmed, and the US Embassy spokeswoman in Riyadh Carol Kalin insisted that there had been no American fatalities, though the State Department in Washington admitted that several Americans had been wounded. Initial reports had said that 18 people in the visa section had been taken hostage, though Saudi officials later denied them, saying that the applicants had simply been caught in the crossfire between the terrorists and the Saudi security forces. It later transpired that they had in fact been used as human shields by the terrorists, and that some of them were wounded in the crossfire. The attack does not come as a surprise, as the US Consulate had been a regular target for militants in the past year, with several drive-by shooting incidents widely reported in the local press. But many Saudis were shocked that the militants had been successful in breaching the heavy security and entering the consulate grounds. The US State Department sent out a warden message to the estimated 25,000 Americans still living in the kingdom, warning them once more to take the utmost security precautions following the attack. "In response to a 6 December armed attack against the American Consulate General in Jeddah, the American Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulates General in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed to the public on 6 and 7 December. Only essential staff will be at these diplomatic facilities and only emergency consular services for American citizens will be available," said the message. There were 35,000 Americans living and working in this desert kingdom until a series of deadly terrorist attacks on foreigners by groups closely associated with Al-Qaeda over the past two years forced many Americans to opt to leave the country.
