JEDDAH // Four security guards were killed in a suicide attack on Monday near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina — the second holiest site in Islam — after a bloody day of bombings in Saudi Arabia ahead of Eid Al Fitr.
The bombs in Medina and one at a mosque in Qatif went off shortly after sunset as worshippers broke their fast.
Earlier, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the US consulate compound in Jeddah, injuring two Saudi policemen.
The attack in Medina at the security headquarters for the Prophet’s Mosque shocked Muslims around the world, particularly as it happened on the penultimate day of Ramadan.
Four members of the security forces were killed in the suicide blast, Al Arabiya reported. The explosion sparked a large blaze among parked cars in the fading evening light.
Smoke billowed from flames near the mosque, which was built by the Prophet Mohammed who is buried there with his first two successors.
Qari Patel, 36, from Johannesburg, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as the call to sunset prayers was ending.
Mr Patel said people were breaking their fast with dates so the mood was subdued, and many at first thought it was the sound of traditional cannon fire. But then he felt the ground shake.
“The vibrations were very strong," he said. “It sounded like a building imploded."
In Qatif, in the country’s east, at least one and possibly two suicide explosions struck near a Shiite mosque.
A resident of the city said there were believed to be no casualties, as worshippers had already gone home to break their fasts.
While no one claimed responsibility for the bombings, ISIL has called for attacks on Saudi Arabia, which is taking part in the US-led coalition bombing the extremists in Syria and Iraq.
The attack in Jeddah yesterday took place about 2.15am in the car park of Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, next to the US mission on Hail Street.
The Saudi interior ministry said a man wearing an explosive vest parked his vehicle close to the consulate, arousing the suspicions of police.
As two officers approached the explosives went off, causing slight injuries to the policemen.
Gen Mansour Al Turki, the interior ministry spokesman, said the bomber was a “resident foreigner" in his 30s. He said “devices that failed to explode were found in the vicinity of the site".
The attack took place as Americans celebrated Independence Day.
On its website, the US embassy in Riyadh urged Americans to “take extra precautions when travelling throughout the country".
The same consulate was attacked in 2004, and police have since maintained a strong presence there.
Emergency services quickly sealed off the area, moving residents, shoppers and visitors to a nearby hospital.
Police, some wearing flak jackets and armed with automatic weapons, diverted traffic and discouraged onlookers from gathering at the scene.
A member of the medical staff at Soliman Fakeeh hospital was smoking outside the hospital when he heard the explosion.
“Everything went quiet for a few seconds and then people began screaming and running in every direction," he said. “The police arrived right away and pushed people back about 200 metres. They were telling people to leave immediately because of the possibility of other bombs being around and going off, and that’s what happened."
Three controlled explosions went off between 3am and 6am as a bomb squad used a remote-controlled robot to defuse three remaining devices found in the suspect’s vehicle.
Mohammed Salem, 17, an Egyptian student who grew up in the Ruwais District less than a kilometre from the consulate, spoke to The National as the explosions were still continuing.
“I saw on Twitter that there was a dead terrorist and I thought it was all over," said Mohammed. “But then we heard a second explosion almost an hour later.
“We still don’t know what’s going on exactly. We’re hearing all kinds of things. My parents are scared and won’t let any of the younger kids out of the house."
ISIL has used the final days of Ramadan to carry out widespread bloodshed, with an attack in Baghdad on Sunday killing more than 200 people.
Twenty hostages were killed in a siege in Bangladesh on Friday and a bombing at Istanbul’s main international airport a week ago killed 45.
In December 2004, a group of armed Al Qaeda operatives attacked the US consulate in Jeddah.
According to the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia at the time, James Oberwetter, “the terrorists began to engage the local Saudi staff at the gate, who returned fire and a great firefight broke out".
“Regrettably the terrorists were not taken down there and were able to access the compound," Mr Oberwetter said, adding that the gunmen slipped in on foot behind a diplomatic car.
Four of the five attackers were eventually killed after taking non-US staff hostage.
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters
