A US national and another unidentified person were killed late Saturday in what appears to be a suicide bomb attack in the eastern Saudi town of Khobar, sources reported.
The bomb explosion killed two unidentified foreigners Saturday night, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, quoting the provincial police chief.
Al Jazeera satellite TV station, meanwhile, reported early Sunday that one of the dead was an American, but it was not known whether he was a member of the large US army contingent stationed in Khobar.
Al Jazeera added that the bomb was in a package thrown into the street by a pedestrian in a crowded market place.
Police sources had told AFP earlier that four people had been killed in the blast, including a US citizen and a Briton.
According to the Saudi newspaper Al Watan, the blast was carried out by a Pakistani suicide bomber, who was killed instantly, and whose body was blown several meters away from the blast.
Okaz newspaper, also quoting unnamed witnesses, reported that the body of one of the two dead was sliced in two, which suggested he could have been carrying the bomb.
Several other newspapers said the second dead man was probably a Filipino, but his body was burnt beyond recognition. Two of the wounded were also Filipinos, they said.
A UK national was also wounded in the blast, which a US official said was probably unrelated to the September 11 terror attacks on US targets.
Al Jazeera TV said that a US official ruled out the possibility of a connection between the incident and the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
According to AFP, diplomats had visited the Briton, who has "superficial injuries," a British spokeswoman said in London.
In Riyadh, a British embassy spokeswoman told AFP the man's condition was "reassuring."
SPA quoted the provincial police chief as saying that the blast occurred at around 8:00pm (1700 GMT) Saturday outside an electronics store in Khobar, killing two people and wounding four others.
"All the victims are foreign residents," the unnamed police chief added, without providing their nationalities.
"One American was killed and one other seriously injured, both of them civilians, in the blast in Khobar," the official was quoted as saying – Albawaba.com
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