RIYADH, Dec 29 (AFP) - The US embassy in Saudi Arabia reiterated its advice to its nationals in the kingdom to exercise extra caution following two explosions that rocked Riyadh late Wednesday, a US diplomat said.
"American citizens are advised to be aware of their surroundings, exercise caution and monitor news reports closely," Andrew Mitchelle, deputy spokesman at the embassy in Riyadh, told AFP, reading a statement.
Explosives-laden cars blew up outside the Saudi interior ministry and a security forces camp in Riyadh in suspected suicide attacks, the latest Islamist violence to rock the oil-rich kingdom.
A number of people were wounded in the car bomb blasts which sent clouds of smoke into the night sky over the Saudi capital, with an interior ministry spokesman describing at least one as a suicide attack.
The United States renewed a warning to its nationals to stay out of Saudi Arabia following a brazen attack claimed by Al-Qaeda militants on its consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah which killed five non-American staff members on December 6.
Ambassador James Oberwetter said at the time that an April advisory urging the some 30,000 US citizens in Saudi Arabia to leave and warning Americans against traveling to the kingdom remained in place.
The attack was the first on a diplomatic mission by suspected Al-Qaeda militants since they launched a campaign of shootings and bombings in the kingdom in May last year.
12/29/2004 22:34 GMT - AFP