Security at Saudi consulate will be improved

A Yemeni worker who was wounded during Monday’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Salah Abdel Qawi, talks with unidentified Saudis at the King Fahd Hospital in Jiddah, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Islamic militants who shot their way into the heavily fortified U.S. Consulate, killing five employees, clearly had studied how cars entered the compound, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday, praising actions that stopped the assault but acknowledging room for improvement.

Ambassador James C. Oberwetter thanked Saudi forces for ‘‘freeing the compound’’ and said Marine guards inside performed their duty heroically. Saudi officials, meanwhile, said four assailants were Saudis and that a fifth person killed hadn’t yet been identified.

None of the three assailants identified Tuesday — Fayez bin Awad al-Juhaini, Eid bin Dakhil Allah al-Juhaini, Hassan bin Hamid al-Hazimi — appear on the kingdom’s list of 26 most wanted militants. The statement did not say whether the al-Juhainis were related, or provide details about them.

Assailants believed linked to al-Qaida shot their way through a gate in Monday’s bold assault on the compound, but were killed or captured before penetrating consular buildings inside.

Five consulate employees — one Yemeni, a Sudanese, a Filipino, a Pakistani and a Sri Lankan — were killed and another four were injured. Consul-general Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley said two American staff were slightly wounded, and one was up and about Tuesday.

Oberwetter, speaking to journalists at a Jiddah hotel, praised the consulate’s security measures, saying the attackers’ car was able to reach the gate, but no further, and the attackers had to enter the grounds on foot. Still, he said, ‘‘the events of yesterday show the need for improvement. We will examine what additional steps need to be taken.’’

Journalists were not allowed inside the compound, located in the heart of the Red Sea port city and surrounded by 10-foot-high walls.

Oberwetter said it would open for business in a few days. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said requests have been made to Washington for a Wednesday reopening of the embassy in Riyadh and consular office in the eastern city of Dhahran, which had been closed to the public as a precaution.

Oberwetter said the attackers ‘‘clearly understood how cars entered the compound and they were conducting surveillance.’’

‘‘A single car in the far lane slowly followed a consular car and attempted to enter the compound,’’ the ambassador said.