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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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Al Qaeda group claims attack on US Saudi mission JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday (Reuters) The Saudi wing of al Qaeda said it attacked the heavily fortified U.S. consulate in Jeddah in a brazen daylight strike that showed it still poses a threat to the world's top oil exporter. At least nine people died in the attack on Monday, the first against a Western diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia and first major strike in six months by militants bent on overthrowing the ruling family and driving Westerners from the birthplace of Islam. "The squadron of the martyr Abu Annas al-Shami carried out the blessed Falluja attack by storming one of the bastions of the crusaders in the Arabian Peninsula and penetrated the American consulate in Jeddah," Al Qaeda Organisation in the Arabian Peninsula said in a statement posted on a Web site often used by Islamists. Its authenticity could not be verified. The bloodshed in the Red Sea port city indicated that the fight against Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in the kingdom is far from over despite a security crackdown in which several leading militants have been killed or captured. Oil prices bounced from a three-month low on Monday, after last week's 14 percent fall, partly because the attack caused renewed concerns about supplies. The Interior Ministry said security forces killed three attackers and a fourth died from his wounds. They captured a wounded member of the "deviant" group - which is what the government calls al Qaeda. It said the five dead consulate employees were a Yemeni, a Sudanese, a Filipino, a Pakistani and a Sri Lankan. Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah said no Saudi security forces were killed but two Saudi national guards were wounded. Jubeir told reporters by telephone that the five attackers approached the gate in two vehicles and when the first vehicle was stopped at an outside checkpoint, they got out and fought their way into the compound firing guns and lobbing grenades. He said the attackers called a general emergency line to say they had taken 17 hostages and that security forces should not attack the compound to rescue them. After coordinating with U.S. Marines providing security to the consulate, Saudi forces stormed the compound and rescued some hostages, he added. Some of the eight consulate staff wounded in the attack told Reuters that militants had tried to use them as human shields. "They told the security forces in front of us: 'We have hostages. If you approach, we will shoot'. They put us in front of them as human shields. The security forces stormed in and there was an exchange of fire," said Muaffa Jilan Ibrahim, a Yemeni maintenance worker who had superficial bullet wounds. Witnesses said the militants had hauled down the U.S. flag and burned it after bursting into the mission. In its Internet statement, the group codenamed its operation the "Falluja attack" - after the western Iraqi city where U.S.-led forces launched an offensive to crush insurgents, including supporters of al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Abu Annas al-Shami, whose real name is Omar Youssef Jumah, was the spiritual mentor of Jordanian militant Zarqawi, whose group has claimed numerous deadly attacks in Iraq. Relatives say Jumah was killed in a U.S. air strike there in September. Saudi Arabia vowed to eradicate terrorists while U.S. President George W. Bush said the attack showed "the terrorists are still on the move" and linked them to insurgents in Iraq, where violence threatens elections set for January. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "(This) will not deter us in our fight against terrorism." |
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