One American was killed and another was wounded in a parcel bomb that ripped through a busy street in eastern Saudi Arabia today, a US embassy official said.
"One American was killed in the blast and one is in hospital. It appears that a pedestrian threw a package bomb into the shopping area . . . The motives are completely unknown," the official said in Riyadh.
He said were both male, but not military servicemen.
A Saudi police spokesman was quoted earlier today by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying that two people were killed and four others were wounded in the explosion in the eastern city of al-Khobar. He said all were foreigners but did not identify their nationalities.
The US administration officials said they saw no immediate connection between the explosion and Washington's response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
"Based on first reports, we believe this is an isolated incident, not related to September 11th. But we are continuing to collect facts," an administration official told said.