MONTERREY, Mexico, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Gunmen fired shots near a U.S. consulate in northern Mexico on Thursday days after a similar attack on the building and officials suspended visa services, a U.S. official said.

"Shots were fired in the vicinity of the consulate general. We don't know if shots were fired at the consulate," said a U.S. consular official who declined to be named.

Mexican police swarmed around the building in the city of Monterrey and U.S. federal investigators scoured the area for evidence. Unknown gunmen shot at the building over the weekend and threw a grenade that did not explode.

The consulate, which processes immigrant visas for Mexicans and provides services to U.S. citizens in Mexico, is expected to reopen on Friday, the official said.

Monterrey, a manufacturing and services city close to the U.S. border, saw a surge in violence involving drug gangs in 2007 but has been calm this year despite spiraling turf wars between drug cartels across Mexico in which some 3,725 people have died in 2008 alone. (Reporting by Robin Emmott)

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