US embassy issues alert for Jeddah compound
US citizens living in a residential compound in western Saudi Arabia have been put on high alert after the American Embassy issued an increased threat level warning, officials said today.
The warning singled out the Sierra Village, on the outskirts of Jeddah, a Red Sea coastal city where tensions remain high following a December 6 attack on the US consulate by Islamic militants.
“Official Americans are relocating to an alternate location as a result of this threat,” according to a statement posted on the US Embassy’s web site. An Embassy official confirmed the statement but declined to elaborate on the threat.
A Sierra Village employee said the situation was calm in the compound despite the warning, which she said was issued yesterday following an altercation a day earlier between security guards and youths in a car parked nearby.
“The guards asked the youths what they were doing, and one said ‘it’s none of your business’ before the car sped off,” the employee told The Associated Press in Egypt in a telephone interview.
The employee added that the compound, which housed about 1,000 Westerners, including many Americans, had “very high security” and there was no immediate threat.
The embassy statement urged Americans living and working in the area to “maintain a heightened level of vigilance and continue varying times and routes when travelling”.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said security authorities had no specific information of terrorist acts.
The Jeddah US consulate attack led to a gun fight between militants and security forces that killed five foreign consulate employees and four attackers.
Saudi Arabia’s image was battered after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks carried out by 19 airplane hijackers, 15 of whom were Saudis.
For nearly two years, Saudi Arabia has been waging a crackdown to root out terrorism after al-Qaida-linked militants attacked three residential compounds in Riyadh in May 2003.
