Saudi Arabian air force troops exchanged fire Wednesday with an unknown number of gunmen, who attacked residential complex housing American nationals, the US embassy in Riyadh said.
"At some time early Wednesday morning in a residential compound in Khamis Msheit that is protected by the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF), the RSAF exchanged gunfire with an unknown person or persons," a US embassy spokeswoman said.
"All Americans are reported safe," the spokeswoman told AFP, without saying how many US citizens were housed at the compound. There is an estimated 40,000-strong US community in the kingdom.
Khamis Msheit, in the southwestern province of Asir, is home to a large Saudi military base.
A 1996 truck bomb outside an American military barracks in the eastern Saudi town of Khobar left 19 dead, and an attack the previous year against US military advisors killed seven people – RIYADH (AFP)
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