U.S. warns travelers of ‘imminent threat’ in Saudi Arabia

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — The U.S. State Department on Thursday issued a fresh warning to American citizens who have plans to travel to Saudi Arabia, especially to the port city of Jeddah.

The State Department in a release said they have received information which speaks towards a possible attack against American citizens traveling through the region. The information was of a “potential, imminent threat” that was “credible and serious” enough to issue the security message.

“It’s a security message, not a travel warning that our consulate put out in Jeddah. Obviously, our consulate felt that the information they had was credible enough, serious enough to warrant sending that message out immediately” said John Kirby, a State Department spokesperson, in a release.

“There is a potential specific threat to American traveling to Jeddah, and in particular, public venues in Jeddah, So it’s very specific to the location and it makes it clear that this is a potential threat to Americans there,” he added.

Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led international coalition that is currently battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The country has also led a coalition fighting shiite rebels in Yemen.

On July 4 of this year, a suicide bomber was killed and two people injured after a blast occurred near the U.S. consulate in Jeddah. A rare occurrence in the region, it was the first bombing for a matter of years to attempt to target foreigners in the country.

The same day, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina and a third attack took place in the eastern city of Qatif.