Suicide bomber killed, two police wounded in blast outside U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia

By Reuters/Angus McDowell July 3, 2016 | 11:20 pm PT

A member of the Saudi security force stands guard in front of the logo of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition during a meeting for the coalition's chiefs of staff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia March 27, 2016. Photo by Reuters/Faisal Al Nasser

A suicide bomber was killed and two other people wounded in a blast outside the U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia's second city of Jeddah early on Monday, state TV said.

The attacker parked his car outside a mosque opposite the consulate and shortly afterwards his device detonated, killing him and lightly wounding three security men nearby, it said.

Reuters could not immediately reach spokesmen for the Jeddah police or Saudi security services.

A photograph on the Sabq news website showed what appeared to be the remains of a man lying next to a taxi.

A witness at the location told Reuters the area had been closed off by the security forces and that helicopters were flying overhead, but that none of the police on duty would confirm what had taken place.

Islamic State has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks in Saudi Arabia since late 2014 that have killed scores of people, mostly members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority and security services.

A decade ago, an al Qaeda campaign focused on Western expatriates in the world's top oil exporter, killing hundreds in attacks on businesses and residential compounds. One 2004 attack hit the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, killing nine.

Suicide bomber killed, two police wounded in blast outside U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia

> Istanbul governor's office raises fatalities to 41 killed, 239 wounded in airport bombing