JEDDAH, 7 December 2004 — The attack on the US Consulate yesterday came when business and domestic life in Jeddah was in full spate. Citizens who went about their daily business spoke of their experience with Arab News reporters.

Waheed said that he was at Starbucks on Palestine Street at 11:15 a.m. when he heard a loud exchange of gunfire and saw a cloud of black smoke filling the sky. Military vehicles immediately arrived on the scene and cordoned off the whole area. He was trapped for half an hour, unable to move from his parking place but eventually was able to get away using back roads.

People closer to the consulate on Palestine Street at the time said that they saw four people with machine guns shoot their way inside the consulate.

A witness who lives near the consulate behind Fakeeh Hospital said he heard the shots as early as 10:30 followed by two explosions. “We could hear and see the bullets flying in the air. It was once only inconvenient to live near the consulate with all the security around it, now it is definitely dangerous,” he said.

Marwan, another witness who was near the area at 11:30 said the roads were all blocked by the brown military vehicles and traffic was stalled. He could see the smoke rising and two helicopters circling in the air. “There were a huge number of police and security cars, maybe a hundred, and several ambulances,” he said.

Some people heard rumors of similar attacks in Riyadh and thought that this was part of a larger operation. “I panicked and picked up my children myself from school early. You never know how these things can develop,” said Sameera who lives in Al-Rowais.

Maha was taking a computer course in Jamjoom Center on Palestine Street when suddenly around 11 a.m. they were told there is shooting and explosions at the consulate. “We were all startled of course and wanted to go home so the instructor permitted us out early but we couldn’t leave the center because the whole area was sealed off and we were told to stay where we were,” she said.

Her mother and her husband called her on her cell phone to see how she was doing. She was there until the operation ended and the situation calmed down three hours later.

One of the local staff working at the consulate who was inside during the whole ordeal told Arab News at 3:30 p.m. that he was on his way home and that the operation was over. “The security forces have taken us out and I just want to go see my wife and kids,” he said in a shaken voice. He said that all the staff was taken to a safe place during the shooting and that he did not see any of the terrorists. “We were far away from harm but we knew what was going on,” he said.

An eyewitness of the terrorist attack, Osama Milibary, whose house was hit with two bullets, lives across Andalus Street, some 200 meters west of the US Consulate. He heard a loud explosion and hurried to his balcony to see what it was. He saw smoke rising from the consulate grounds. Security guards rushed to the scene within minutes and surrounded the area.

Having taken control of the premises, terrorists took position inside the compound at strategic points and fired upon any security guards who were in range.

Security guards were blocking off roads surrounding the area, when they were shot at. They took cover in a yard of the building that barely saved them from terrorists’ fire. Bullets barely missed a curious onlooker standing on her balcony of Milibary’s building. Soldiers who took cover behind palm trees that form a line just outside the east wall of the consulate were also being fired upon.

Other buildings that sustained damage from automatic rifle fire were Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, which was hit on the sixth floor, and Top Furniture both located on Palestine St. Glass was shattered in both buildings that sustained many bullet holes. Osama also said that “at least three or four snipers took up positions on top of each of the surrounding buildings of Al-Ahli Bank and Ghassan Sweets.”

Other witnesses said some of the injured were taken to the Fakeeh Hospital when the shooting first began, then all the doors of the hospital were shut on orders of the general manager and the injured were then directed to the nearby King Fahd Hospital.