two explosions were heard in i city of katif. nbc news working to confirm this.vernight, a bomber detonated near the u.s. consulate in the jetta. we'll continue bring you the latest developments. >>> breaking news out of rome as well, american college student was found dead in rome, three days after reported missing. he is bo solomon, visiting student from the university of wisconsin, madison who vanished hours after arriving. he was last seen at a pub in rome. after he went missing, his parents called the credit card company and discovered that thousands of dollars had been charged in milan to his account. >>> protests and resignations, the financial fears over the brexit vote is the worst over? the impact overseas is and to your pocketbook. trolling for a gig with braindrone? can't blame you. it's a drone you control with your brain, which controls your thumbs, which control this joystick. no, i'm actually over at the ge booth. we're creating the operating system for industry. it's called predix. it's gonna change the way the world works. ok, i'm telling my bra

you look at katif, it's a shia mosque and i.s. is an extreme version of sunni muslim but of course saudi is a predominantly sunni muslim state so it shows you one thing that is a trait of i.s., they kill more muslims than anybody else in their conflict so it does have that resonance that it could be an i.s. attack like we've seen in baghdad. anchor: i want to talk about that with you. islamic state's declared ambition is to establish an islamic caliphate but we're seeing fighters attacking muslims during ramadan. what's behind that strategy? why are they doing this? >> it may sound like a paradox but there has been history of this in the past, not just this period of ramadan, but ramadan from last year and the year before. encouragement from the likes of al-adami from the islamic state to have a month of calamity. it may sound strange to have during one of the holiest months in the muslim faith, to orchestrate attacks but i suppose historically you look at the prophet mohammad in 624, the battle was held during ramadan. you've als

what we know about the one in katif, it was a suicide bomber.e detonated his explosives and we are sold there were no casualties in that particular attack. what we have seen in medina, a very, very important site to muslims throughout the world, not just saudi arabia. the second most holy site. one of those places where people will go to on that pilgrim annal. there will be a lot of going there for precisely this reason. in medina, we can see there are several casualties. we don't have further details on precisely what happened, brianna. >> the timing, what we can say about this, it appears to be no coincidence. a number of terrorist groups have been emphasizing this holy period as a time for strikes. >> isis has certainly called on its supporters to do that. in the last 24 hours, less than in saudi arabia, you have three separate suicide attacks that involve somebody wearing explosives and explosives in vehicles. there is a similarity to these. we know the saudi authorities have a problem with isis. so far, isis has targeted in saudi arabia, me

two explosions shook the city of katif. body parts could be seen in the area of the blast. that city is significant because it's got the highest con sen ration of shiia muslims in saudi -- sunni dominated saudi arabia and isis has attacked in that city in the past. earlier this morning, we saw what looks like an attempted attack on the american consulate in jetta. a suicide bomber getting to within 30 feet of the walls of the consulate. he blew himself up after he was challenged by two security men and bombs and devices were then found in his car, no one in the consulate was hurt. but this triple attack was very unusual. there have been dozens of attacks in saudi arabia in the last two years. three in a day, especially one in the city of medina, that's very unusual, no worth yet who's responsible, but isis, like osama bin laden regards the saudi royal family as enemies to be removed so anything they can do to destabilize that kingdom, they will do. thomas? >> bill neely reporting from london for us. bill, thank you very much. keep us posted. joining us now on set is malcolm

hours later a pair of suicide bombers struck near the mosque in katif, a ministry source confirming thatng to the ap the attack did not appear to cause any injuries. shortly after that a suicide bombing took place in medina near the headquarters of the prophet's mosque, considered to be the second holiest site in islam. four security officers were ed

hours later a pair of suicide bombers struck near the mosque in katif, a ministry source confirming that to nbc news. according to the ap the attack did not appear to cause any injuries. shortly after that a suicide bombing took place in medina near the headquarters of the prophet's mosque, considered to be the second holiest site in islam. four security officers were killed as well as the suicide bomber. meanwhile in iraq the death toll continues to climb after one of the deadliest bombings to hit baghdad in more than a decade and the worst ever there at the hands of isis. at least 200 people were killed, another 176 wounded. the numbers rose yesterday as bodies were recovered from the rubble. authorities say a refrigerator truck filled with explosives blew up around midnight on saturday as people were celebrating ramadan. isis has claimed responsibility. they've also claimed responsibility for the attack in bangladesh on friday. gunmen stormed a restaurant in that country's capital city. the crisis that unfolded left 28 dead, including six attackers, and 20 hostages. at least one of th