Suicide bomber in Saudi Arabia strikes near Prophet's Mosque in Medina

The scene outside of the Prophet&#039;s Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

(Image credit: Twitter.com/Razarumi)

published 4 July 2016

Just hours after a suicide bomber killed himself and injured two others outside of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, suicide bombers blew themselves up outside of mosques in Medina and the eastern city of Qatif Monday night.

The Prophet's Mosque in Medina is one of Islam's holiest sites in the religion's second-holiest city after Mecca, and is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad. On social media, witnesses are posting photos of billowing smoke and a vehicle on fire, the BBC reports. There are no details on any fatalities. In Qatif, two explosions were heard — the first bomb destroyed a car near a mosque, a witness told Reuters, and the second bomb was detonated around 7 p.m. local time. The witness said body parts, believed to belong to a suicide bomber, could be seen in the street. Qatif is home to minority Shi'ite Muslims. No one has claimed responsibility for any of Monday's bombings in the kingdom.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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