Bomber dies in blast near U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Police outside of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
(Image credit: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

A suicide bomber blew himself up about 33 feet from the wall of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.

The bomber was the only person killed in the blast, although witnesses said two police officers appeared to have been injured. Officers became suspicious of the man as he roamed a parking lot, and he detonated the explosives when officers approached him. Al Qaeda-linked gunmen attacked the U.S. consulate in Jeddah in 2004, killing five employees.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.