Saudi Arabia: Pakistani man behind Jeddah suicide bombing

DUBAI — Saudi Arabia names the suicide bomber who struck outside the US Consulate in Jeddah as a Pakistani resident of the kingdom who arrived 12 years ago to work as a driver.

An Interior Ministry statement identifies the man as 34-year-old Abdullah Qalzar Khan. It says he lived in the port city with “his wife and her parents,” but does not elaborate.

In the attack, the bomber detonated his explosives after two security guards approached him, killing himself and lightly wounding the two guards, the Interior Ministry says. No consular staff were hurt.

The bombing was the first of three in the kingdom yesterday, including one at the Medina mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, which killed four Saudi security troops.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Jeddah and Medina attacks, nor another at a Shiite mosque in the east of the country.

— AP