Militants stormed the heavily fortified U.S. consulate in Jeddah in a brazen raid Monday and 12 people died in gunbattles before security forces regained control.

Smoke billows from the US consulate in Jeddah. Gunmen suspected of links to Al-Qaeda stormed the US consulate in the Saudi port of Jeddah, triggering a bloody three-hour siege that left five staff and three attackers dead.[Xinhua]

It was the first major militant assault in Saudi Arabia since May and the first against a Western diplomatic mission.

The bloodshed in the Red Sea port city indicated that the fight against Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in the world's biggest oil exporter is far from over.

Saudi security officials said four of their men died in the assault. Security forces killed three attackers and wounded two, who were then captured, the Interior Ministry said.

It said members of the "deviant" group -- which is what the government calls al Qaeda -- threw explosives at the consulate gate and entered the compound in central Jeddah.

Some of the eight consulate staff wounded in the attack told Reuters that militants had tried to use them as human shields during a firefight with security forces.

"They held us hostage for an hour, an hour and a half. We were in two groups of about 4 and 8," said Muaffa Jilan Ibrahim, a Yemeni maintenance worker who had superficial bullet wounds.

"They told the security forces in front of us: 'We have hostages. If you approach, we will shoot'. They put us in front of them as human shields. The security forces stormed in and there was an exchange of fire," he said. A State Department official had earlier denied any hostages were taken.

Another consular employee, Indian national Richard Simon, whose head was grazed by a bullet, said he counted five gunmen.

He said he had taken refuge in the consulate's emergency "safe haven," which also came under attack.

"Afterwards three guys fired on the door, came inside and took four of us to another area and told us to sit down.

"Then some military people came, both sides were firing and we were in between. We were all on the ground and some people were injured," he said from his bed at King Fahd hospital.

Source: Agencies