U.S. national, another, killed in Saudi blast

RIYADH, OCT. 7. An American and another foreigner were killed and a British national was injured in a bomb blast at Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, which a U.S. official said was unrelated to last month's terror attacks on U.S. targets.

The blast occurred at around 8.00 p.m. on Saturday in front of an electronics store in Khobar town, ``killing two people and injuring four others,'' the official SPA agency quoted the Provincial police chief as saying. ``All the victims are foreign residents,'' he said without providing their nationalities.

A U.S. Embassy official in Riyadh told AFP that a U.S. national was killed and another seriously injured in the explosion reportedly caused when a man threw a package bomb into the busy shopping area.

Local authorities were trying to identify the second corpse which was badly mutilated, according to a witness.

The Foreign Office in London said that a British man was among the injured. Diplomats had visited the man, who has ``superficial injuries,'' a British spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the Saudi newspaper, Al- Watan, quoting eyewitnesses reported that the explosion may have been carried out by a Pakistani suicide bomber.

In Washington, a U.S. official said the blast appeared, on early information, to be an ``isolated incident'' unconnected to the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. ``But we are continuing to collect facts and information,'' an administration official said on condition of anonymity.

The blast comes on the heels of the U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to shore up support for Washington's war against terrorism.

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Section  : International
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