Bomb kills at least 2 in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi official collects evidence at the scene of the explosion in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- A remote controlled bomb exploded in a busy shopping area in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Al Khobar, killing at least two people, officials said.

Four other people were hurt in the explosion that occurred about 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Saturday in central Al Khobar in front of an electronics store on King Khaled Road, the eastern province police director said.

Among the injured were an American and a Briton. The nationalities of the dead and the other two people who were injured is not known, the police director said, but they were not Saudis. He said they were all expatriate workers.

RESOURCES On the Scene: CNN's Rym Brahimi on Saudi explosion

The police director said shops in the area were closed for prayers when the bomb exploded. If the shops had been open, he said, there would likely have been more casualties.

Tension has been high in the region following the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that killed thousands.

Debris from the explosion

A Bush administration official told CNN, "Based on first reports, it appears to be an isolated incident, not related to September 11th, but again we are collecting the facts." The official did not know if any of the injured or dead were Americans.

U.S. military personnel are stationed in the area, but Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Campbell told CNN, "We have no reports this involves anyone in the U.S. military."

Al Khobar is the city where 19 American servicemen died in 1996 when their barracks were bombed.

In June, 14 men alleged to be members of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah were indicted in the United States in connection with that bombing.