Saudi Consulate Attack
 |
James Joyner | Monday, December 6, 2004 |
Militants die in U.S. Saudi attack (CNN)
Five Saudi militants attacked the U.S. Consulate in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, but Saudi security forces killed three of them and wounded two others, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Riyadh said no Americans had been taken hostage or wounded but that two members of the local staff had been injured. A Saudi Interior Ministry official said several members of the Saudi security forces were killed and several others wounded in Monday’s attack, launched around 11:15 a.m. (3:15 a.m. ET). In addition, he said, some Saudi civilians who were at the consulate were hit by the gunfire.The official said the militants threw explosives at two gates of the sprawling, walled consulate and then entered, exchanging fire with guards. A senior Saudi official in Washington told CNN’s Andrea Koppel an unknown number of third country nationals who worked at the consulate were taken hostage for a time. Some suffered wounds but all were released. He said Saudis officials believe grenades were “thrown in as a diversion.” The attackers “stormed into part of the consulate” known as the visa section where they took the third country nationals hostage.
Al Qaeda, of course, is the chief suspect. One would think that repeated attacks on fellow Arab Muslims would backfire on the group at some point, although there’s little evidence it’s happened thus far.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
Follow James on FriendFeed | Twitter | Digg
- None Found
- Iraq WMD’s Revisited
- Chrysler Goes Shrill
- Extreme Beer
- Twitter Revolution Will Not be Televised
- The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks and “Open Source” Warfare
- Obama Gets High Marks
- More Franken Ballots Found!
- Chambliss Wins Runoff, Denies Democrats 60 Seats
- Voting Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
- Better Off than 40 Years Ago?
- The Jawa Report linked with US Consulate Attacked in Saudi Arabia
- InTheBullpen.com linked with U.S. Consulate Attacked in Saudi Arabia
- Backcountry Conservative linked with U.S. Consulate Attacked in Saudi Arabia
- InTheBullpen.com
There are very few Saudis employeed at the Consulate in Jeddah. Most of the foreign service national employees (FSNs) there are, in fact, Yemenis and Somalis. While killing them clearly crosses the "don't kill Muslims" taboo, they're not Saudis and probably not extremists in their religious views. In fact, since they work for the USG, they are probably (by Al-Qaeda definition) apostates anyway.
It seems that the big dog poli-bloggers ain't got much skill when it comes to titlin' matters.
Comments are Closed
