JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - Gunmen stormed the US consulate in the Saudi Red City city of Jeddah and took a number of staff hostage in a hail of gunfire and explosions, the latest attack by militants against foreigners in the oil-rich kingdom.
No US nationals were among the hostages, a US official said.
Saudi security forces quickly sealed off the consulate, where a fire raged inside the compound, sending plumes of smoke into the grey December sky, witnesses said.
"Gunmen are holding employees hostage in the consulate," said a police officer, who could not say how many were being held.
"All Americans are accounted for," Carol Kalin, spokeswoman at the US embassy in Riyadh told AFP, refusing to comment on the hostage-taking.
"There has been an attack. It is still ongoing," she said, adding: "Saudi security forces are still in the process of securing the compound."
A witness said Saudi national guardsmen pushed into the compound as gunfire richoceted around the neighbourhood, while police cars and an ambulance rushed to the scene.
There was no immediate information about casualties.
Two Saudi security men outside the main gate were hit by bullets from within the consulate but it was not known if they were killed or wounded.
The US embassy in Riyadh and consulate in the eastern oil city of Dhahran had been shut down as "a precautionary measure," Kalin said.
Susan Pittman, a spokeswoman for the State Department in Washington, said the department was monitoring the situation and was unaware of any American casualties.
Saudi Arabia has been fighting a wave of violence, which it blames on the Al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and which has killed some 90 people and wounded hundreds since May 2003.
Hundreds of people suspected of being linked to Al-Qaeda have been detained in regular sweeps by security forces.
US interests in the oil-rich desert kingdom have been a particular target in 10 years of deadly militant attacks against foreigners.
In 1996, an explosives-laden truck destroyed a building at a US military base at Khobar in the east of Saudi Arabia, killing 19 US nationals.
Known as the Paris of Arabia, the port city of Jeddah is a bustling mix of modern and ancient where old mud houses vie for space with modern skyscrapers.
