RIYADH: An explosion took place in a Saudi Arabian community on Thursday and emergency vehicles converged on the scene, a witness told AFP.
It was the latest incident in Qatif, where Islamic State group militants have carried out deadly attacks in recent years but where Shiite discontent has also raged.
“The explosion was very huge,” the witness said, asking not to be identified.
Armoured and other police vehicles sealed off the area after the explosion, the witness said.
Saudi television channel Al-Arabiya reported a car bombing was the cause of the explosion.
Video and photographs posted on social media showed a vehicle engulfed in flames in the middle of a street, with dense black smoke rising around it.
Other images showed what appeared to be at least one charred body lying beside a vehicle, which looked like an SUV, after firefighters extinguished the blaze.
In August, police said they shot dead a would-be suicide bomber targeting a mosque in Qatif district.
Two months later, a gunman killed five people at a Shiite meeting hall in Saihat district of Qatif.
