Global Courant
The gunman and a Nepalese guard were killed in the attack, the latter near the Jeddah consulate.
A shooting outside the United States consulate in the port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has left two people dead: a Nepalese guard and the gunman who initially opened fire.
Officials in the US and Saudi Arabia confirmed the incident on Wednesday as investigations into the attack continue.
“A person in a car stopped at the building of the US consulate in Jeddah governorate and got out with a firearm in his hand,” said a spokesman for the Mecca region police.
“So the security authorities took the initiative to treat him as required and the firefight resulted in his death.”
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA), a state news channel, reported the death of the security guard, who was part of the consulate’s private security.
No US citizens were injured in the gunfire, the US State Department said afterwards.
But, it added, “the US embassy and consulate remain in contact with Saudi authorities as they investigate the incident.”
The historic old city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2020 (Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)
The US consulate in the Red Sea port city, home to more than 4.7 million people, was previously the target of violence, including in 2016.
That year, security personnel identified a suspicious person at the parking lot of Dr Suleiman Faqeeh Hospital, opposite the consulate.
When they approached the person, he “blew himself up with a suicide belt,” according to the Saudi interior ministry. The bomber was killed and two others injured.
The explosion coincided with the holiday of American Independence Day, held on July 4, as well as the end of Ramadan that year. Three other suicide bombings took place on the same day – one in Medina, targeting the Prophet’s Mosque, and two against a mosque in the eastern city of Qatif.
The consulate in Jeddah was also the target of an attack in 2004, in which five people broke into the building with firearms and explosives.
Four Saudi security personnel were killed outside the consulate and five personnel inside. At the time, according to media reports, 18 workers and visa applicants were briefly held hostage before Saudi troops could arrive.
Three of the five attackers also died on the spot. The other two were injured. In 2013, a Saudi Arabian court sentenced one man to death for his role in the 2004 attack and another 19 to 25 years in prison. The attack was blamed on al-Qaeda.
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