US President George W. Bush said Monday that the attack on the US. consulate in the Saudi port city of Jeddah showed that "terrorists are still on the move" and he thanked the Saudi authorities for what they did in response.

"The attacks in Saudi Arabia remind us that the terrorists are still on the move ... They want us to leave Saudi Arabia, they want us to leave Iraq, they want us to grow timid and weary in the face of their willingness to kill randomly, kill innocent people," Bush said after his talks with visiting interim Iraqi president Ghazi al-Yawar.

Bush thanked the Saudi government for "responding as quickly as they did" and vowed to find out more about who caused the attacks.

Both Bush and Yawar said they were committed to holding Iraq's scheduled Jan. 30 elections on time.

"I believe it is necessary for the Iraqi people to vote on January 30th because it provides an opportunity for people to participate in democracy. It will send a clear message to the few people in Iraq that are trying to stop the march toward democracy that they can not stop elections," Bush said.

For his part, Yawar said an overwhelming majority of Iraqis want to participate in the elections.

"We in Iraq, the whole Iraqi society, are willing to participate in elections ... the mass public of Iraq are all very anxious to go and cast their votes," Yawar said.

Their comments followed a group of gunmen who stormed the US consulate in Jeddah on Monday and killed at least four Saudi national guards and took 18 local staff hostage. Saudi security forces responded by shooting dead three attackers and capturing two.

It was the first major assault by gunmen suspected of linkage with al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia since May.

Source: Xinhua