Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, deputy interior minister in charge of security, was meeting well-wishers for the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan when a man blew himself up with explosives he was carrying, the agency said.The man was a wanted militant who insisted on meeting the prince to announce he was giving himself up to authorities, SPA added.
It said the suicide bomber, whom it did not identify, was the only casualty.
The attack was the first to directly target a member of the royal family since the start of a wave of violence by al-Qaeda sympathisers in 2003 against the US-allied monarchy.
Saudi-owned al Arabiya television showed Prince Mohammed, apparently slightly injured, meeting King Abdullah later.
"This will only increase our determination to eradicate this (militancy)," Prince Mohammed, who is the son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, said.
The prince has been largely credited with the Government's recent success in crushing the violence.
Earlier this month, Saudi authorities announced the arrest of 44 militants close to al-Qaeda and the seizure of explosives, detonators and firearms.
In 2004, militants rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the entrance of the Interior Ministry headquarters in the capital Riyadh.
| I seem to recall attacks on compounds for foreigners as well... including posts at Rantburg as an attack was going on. As ye and your family sow, so shall ye reap, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. |