RIYADH, Sept 11: Two explosions of mild intensity hit Jeddah on Saturday, on the third anniversary of the Sept-11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

The first blast rocked Jeddah at 9am when a bomb went off in the rear of a car parked near a cash machine of the SAMBA office in Al-Bawadi. The SAMBA was formerly known as Saudi American Bank. Before the Citibank decided to opt out of the SAMBA, it had shares in the bank (SAMBA).

According to some reports, four people parked the car in front of the cash machine and as soon as they came out of the car, the explosion took place, injuring one of them.

The three other persons involved in the incident escaped to the nearby Al-Ruwaies, hardly four kilometres from the place. They entered and occupied a vacant building. Incidentally, the vacant building was hardy half a kilometre from the US Consulate in Jeddah. Police and security officials have laid a siege to the place and sealed off the area.

Another security source, however, told Reuters that police were searching for a man who had taken the injured driver to hospital and later disappeared. He said police tracked down the man's car to his house, near the United States consulate in Jeddah, and detained two of his family members. The US consulate was declared closed on Saturday for public dealings.

Later, another small explosion took place in a car outside a Saudi British Bank branch on Saturday in Jeddah, on the Tahlia Street of the Red Sea city.

The venue of the blast is near a shopping mall.

Meantime, the injured person of the first blast has been hospitalized in Jeddah under high security. His name and identity has yet to be revealed.

An official from the SAMBA told news agencies that the blast had "not affected" the bank's operations.