Explosion in Saudi Capital Riyadh

(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

A car exploded at a checkpoint in Riyadh near Saudi Arabia’s highest security prison at sunset on Thursday, killing the driver and wounding two security officials, the interior ministry said.

According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia is a target for militant groups including Islamic State, which has called on supporters to carry out attacks in the kingdom and killed 25 people in two suicide bombings at Shi’ite Muslim mosques in the country’s east in May.

“While security officers were manning one of the security checkpoints on Ha’er Road in Riyadh, they directed the driver of a suspected car to stop. The driver initiated an explosion which led to his death,” the ministry said in a statement, adding the blast injured two officers.

The south from Riyadh to Ha’er prison, home to 1,375 detainees who were mainly convicted of militant crimes, its director told Reuters during a visit there this month.

The road passes through southern suburbs of the city before a series of checkpoints start shortly before the prison, which is behind a series of high walls and fences accessed through several well-guarded gates.

The detention of thousands of Saudi Islamists accused or convicted of militancy over the past decade has angered many conservative Sunni Muslims in the kingdom, prompting some rare protests from 2011-13.

Two Saudis linked to a suicide bombing in Kuwait last month took part in those protests, local media reported at the time.