Suicide bomber attacks near U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia

Saudi policemen stand guard at the site where a suicide bomber blew himself up in the early hours of July 4 near the American consulate in the Red Sea city

A suicide bomber blew himself up near the American consulate in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, early Monday morning, injuring two people, the Saudi government said in a statement to its official news agency.

The blast happened shortly before 3 a.m. local time near the parking lot of a hospital across the street from the consulate, according to an unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman who spoke to the Saudi Press Agency. He said two police officers had been treated at the hospital for minor injuries.

A grisly streak of large-scale attacks by jihadists linked to the Islamic State has killed more than 200 people in three countries in the past week. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Jidda, a port city on the Red Sea.

Video posted to Twitter from Jidda showed no visible damage to nearby buildings. Emergency vehicles sat in the street, their flashing lights bouncing off cars that drove slowly past.

Another photo shared widely on social media showed a white car said to belong to the attacker. Its driver’s-side door was flung open, and what appeared to be human remains lay on the pavement nearby.

In 2004, militants from a group calling itself Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia stormed the heavily fortified consulate, using explosives to breach its walls. They took employees hostage and engaged in a fierce firefight with Saudi security forces and United States Marines. Five non-American employees of the consulate were killed.

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