2 Foreigners Killed in Saudi Bomb Blast

A remote-controlled bomb exploded outside a shop in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar on Saturday, police said. Saudi television reported that two foreigners were killed.

Five foreigners were injured in the blast, Khobar’s Al Fahd Hospital said. An American and a Briton were among those hurt.

A U.S. Embassy official in Riyadh told Reuters news service that an American was killed.

A White House spokesman said the explosion appeared unrelated to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which the U.S. blamed on Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.

“We’re collecting information, but at this point we have no reason to believe it is anything other than an isolated and unconnected event,” said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The powerful blast on King Khaled Street, a shopping district popular with foreigners, shattered windows and damaged cars shortly before 8 p.m., according to witnesses, who refused to be identified.

Police said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed outside the Al Mushiri electronics and watch shop and detonated by remote control.

In Washington, a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an American was injured in the blast. The official had no further information.

British diplomats said the Briton hurt in the blast had “superficial injuries,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London said.

Rescue workers and firefighters searched through the wreckage as police sealed off the area in Khobar, a town on the Persian Gulf coast near Qatar, 250 miles northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Security and immigration control were beefed up at the nearby King Fahd Causeway, a highway bridge leading to the neighboring island nation of Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia has seen a number of bomb attacks since 1996--including two in Khobar--that Saudi officials said were linked to a settling of scores between criminals.

Tensions have been high in the region following the terror attacks in the United States. The U.S. is putting together an anti-terrorism coalition and has been mobilizing forces in the Gulf region for a possible attack on Afghanistan, which is sheltering Bin Laden.

The Saudi kingdom has expressed support for the anti-terrorism coalition.