Saudi Cleric Denounces Attack at U.S. Consulate

Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority on Wednesday condemned as a sin the deadly shootings at a U.S. Consulate, and local newspapers reported that one of the slain assailants was a former employee of the nation’s religious police.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh reopened Wednesday, two days after militants stormed into the inner courtyard of the U.S. Consulate in this port city, firing guns, grabbing human shields and killing five people. Four of the attackers also were killed.

Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al Sheik said in a statement that anyone who entered the kingdom with the permission of its leaders had a promise of security and should not be attacked.

“What happened on Monday regarding the storming of the U.S. Consulate in Jidda, using weapons and explosives, killing innocent souls, petrifying secure ones, and undermining security in the kingdom are all forbidden acts and grand sins,” the mufti said.

As Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, he wields significant clout among Saudis.

The Saudi newspaper Al Watan, meanwhile, reported that one of the gunmen killed in the assault had been fired from a job in Medina with the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the kingdom’s religious police.

The paper quoted Saad Mohammed Sumeiry as saying his cousin, Fayez bin Awad Juhaini, 28, was fired for “bad behavior.” The report did not say what his job was, when he worked for the police or when he was fired.