Attacker killed in US consulate gun battle

Attackers using a car today struck the heavily-guarded US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with explosives and machine guns, injuring several people. After a gun battle inside, one attacker was killed, two were arrested and two others were surrounded, Saudi security officials said.

Saudi security forces also said they believed four of the attackers had seized an unknown number of hostages inside the building amid a gun battle. Area residents spoke of seeing Saudi forces enter the consulate shortly before a fierce gun battle was heard inside. A short time later, the gunfire stopped.

In Riyadh, the US Embassy spokeswoman said two local staff members were injured, but all American staff were safe.

“We have accounted for all Americans on the compound in Jeddah and none of them are being held hostage," said US Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin, in Riyadh. “We have a local workforce that was on duty and we are still in the process of accounting for them.”

Saudi security officials said two security guards at the gate of consulate were wounded, one of them seriously, after the attackers opened fire on them before entering the mission. It was not clear if those were the two consulate employees mentioned by Kalin.

A Saudi health official said several people were injured and taken to a hospital.

Witnesses initially said they saw the attackers’ car explode outside the consulate, located in the city’s heart near the Red Sea coastline, but it was not immediately clear if a car bomb had been used, or if the attackers had thrown explosives after driving the car up to the consulate.