Bombs struck a residential enclave housing Westerners in the Saudi capital tonight, killing at least one and injuring 80, according to a variety of sources.
Diplomatic sources in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said three sites had been hit and unconfirmed reports said most residents were Americans, according to Reuters.
A fourth explosion targeted a U.S.-Saudi-owned company, security officials said.
The Associated Press reported a car packed with explosives crashed into a compound and blew up.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, now in Amman, was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia tomorrow.
In a brief statement, the Saudi Interior Ministry said authorities were investigating three separate explosions.
“We heard a huge noise and we saw many ambulances coming and gathering victims,” a witness near one site told Reuters.
Sources had little information on injuries at the three locations which they named as Cordoval, Gedawal and the Hamra, Reuters said.
In 1996, a U.S. complex in Saudi Arabia, the Khobar Towers, was attacked by terrorists, killing 19 Americans and wounding hundreds more.
Americans have been warned by the State Department to avoid travel to Saudi Arabia due to a rise in concerns about terrorism.
The Saudi Press Agency reported at least 19 men were being sought in connection with suspected terror plots in the country – 17 Saudis, an Iraqi with Kuwaiti and Canadian citizenship, and a Yemeni.
An unidentified ministry official quoted by the news agency said Saudi security forces in search of the suspected terrorists seized a large cache of weapons and explosives in Riyadh last week, the Associated Press said.
