Alwaght- Two soldiers were killed in a shootout as the Saudi Arabian security forces prevented an alleged terrorist attack near the royal Al Salam Palace in Jeddah, social media reports claimed on Saturday.
Several Twitter accounts posted photos which, they said, were made at the site of the incident near the Al Salam Palace.
A statement by Saudi Arabia's interior ministry carried by state media identified the attacker as Mansour al-Amri, a 28-year-old Saudi national.
He was carrying Kalashnikov rifles and three Molotov cocktails, the ministry said.
Amri was shot dead on the spot by security guards at the Al-Salam Palace in the coastal city, where the royal family conducts official business during the summer months.
Meanwhile, the United States Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned US citizens to exercise caution in the area around the king's palace in Jeddah on Saturday following reports of the attack.
"Due to the possibility of ongoing police activity, American citizens are advised to exercise caution when travelling through the area," the embassy warned.
The palace is located next to the King Abdulaziz Road and Andalus Road on the waterfront of the city.
In June 2016, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the US Consulate in Jeddah, injuring two guards.
Saturday's shooting happened while King Salman was still in Russia for a four-day state visit which started on Wednesday.
A few days ago, Saudi forces raided hideouts of a "terror" cell reportedly linked to ISIS, killing two people and arresting five, according to the national security agency.
Activists say authorities in Saudi Arabia have arrested at least 40 people—including clerics, scholars, and political commentators—in the past weeks. Saudi security sources say those arrested were in the early stages of planning a coup against the monarchy.
