Monday's brazen broad-daylight assault on the heavily-fortified consulate in the Red Sea city claimed at least nine lives, including five consulate staff and four militants, but Riyadh has denied reports that four guardsmen were killed.
The Saudi branch of Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network claimed the attack in a website statement as apparent revenge for the US-led assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah last month.
US President George W. Bush said the attack showed that terrorists were still at large in the oil-rich desert kingdom and the Saudi government vowed there would be no letup in its fight against Islamic extremists.
But there are fears that foreigners could take fright and flee the kingdom, which has seen about 100 people killed in a renewed wave of violence since May 2003 despite a government crackdown.
An internet statement signed by the Al Qaeda organization in the Arabian Peninsula claimed the attack in the name of the "martyr" Abu Annas Al Shami, a top aide to Iraq's most-wanted man, Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, who was reportedly killed near Baghdad earlier this year.
"Your brothers managed to kill nine people in the consulate, including two Americans and seven soldiers of the tyrannical regime, and wounded dozens more," it said, describing the attack as "Operation Conquest of Fallujah".
"This operation is one of the series of operations carried out by the Al Qaeda organization in their war against the crusaders and the Jews to chase the infidels out of the Arabian peninsula," the group said.
Gunmen fought their way into the beachfront consulate in a hail of bullets and explosion, triggering a bloody three-hour siege and shootout in the first-such attack on a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia.
The consulate remained closed on Tuesday and the US flag was flying at half-mast behind a four-meter (12 foot) cement barricade.
The interior ministry said five members of a "deviant group" - its term for Al Qaeda sympathizers - hurled bombs as a diplomatic vehicle was driving in to the compound, then torched one of the buildings and attacked people on the site.
Security forces rushed to the scene and besieged the assailants, killing three on the spot and wounding the two others, one of whom later died in hospital, it said.
The ministry identified three of the slain gunmen as Fayez Bin Awwad Al Jeheni, Eid Bin Dakhilallah Al Jeheni and Hassan Bin Hamed Al Hazmi, none of whom was on a most-wanted list of suspected Al Qaeda sympathizers issued by authorities a year ago.
"The identity of the fourth, who is wounded, must be not be divulged for the sake of the [public] interest, and procedures are underway to establish the identity of the fifth person, who died in the incident," it said in a statement, adding that all four identified were Saudis.
US officials said all Americans at the consulate were safe and accounted for, but five non-American employees and contractors were killed and another four wounded.
"The attacks in Saudi Arabia remind us that the terrorists are still on the move," Bush said in Washington. "They want us to leave Saudi Arabia, they want us to leave Iraq, they want us to grow timid and weary."
The interior ministry said a Yemeni, a Sudanese, a Palestinian, a Pakistani and a Sri Lankan were killed, although the government in the Philippines said one of its nationals was killed and another wounded.
The Philippine embassy advised the more than 9,000 Filipinos working in Saudi Arabia to restrict their movements in a country where expatriates make up about one-quarter of the population of some 22 million.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.