A suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up in the parking lot of a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing himself and three others in the second such attack in as many weeks claimed by ISIS.
The latest attack and a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed 21 people last Friday appeared aimed at fanning sectarianism and destabilizing the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia had vowed to crack down on the extremists after last week’s bombing, and authorities appeared keen to claim credit for preventing the bomber from entering the Imam Hussein Mosque, the only Shiite mosque in the port city of Dammam. The state-run Saudi Press Agency said security guards halted a car in the parking lot and the bomber detonated his explosives as they approached.
But witnesses said worshippers had taken their own security measures, including setting up checkpoints, and young men had detected the bomber and chased him down, leading him to set off the explosion.
Mohammad Idris, a worshipper who witnessed the attack, told the AP by telephone that the suicide bomber attempted to enter the mosque but was chased by young men, who had set up checkpoints at the entrance. “They chased the suicide bomber when he tried to enter the women’s section of the mosque,” he said.Another witness, who did not want to be identified because of security concerns, said security had been tightened at mosques after last week’s attack and that women were told to stay home because there were not enough female guards to check them.
Body parts were scattered around the area after the explosion, which set four cars ablaze and sent black smoke into the air, said Mohammad al-Saidi, who arrived half an hour after the blast.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by its “Najd Province.” A statement posted on a Facebook page used by the extremist group said a “soldier of the caliphate,” identified as Abu Jandal al-Jazrawi, blew himself up among “an evil gathering of those filth in front of one of their shrines in Dammam.” The name Jazrawi suggests that the bomber is a Saudi national.
It called on Sunnis to “purify the land of the two shrines from the atheist rafida,” a derogatory term for Shiites.
Last Friday, an ISIS suicide bomber killed 21 people in the village of Al-Qadeeh, in the oil-rich eastern Al-Qatif region. It was the deadliest militant assault in the kingdom in more than a decade. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman vowed to punish those responsible for the “heinous terrorist attack.”
Interior Ministry official Bassam Attiyah said earlier this week that ISIS had divided the kingdom into five self-styled provinces. He said on state TV that the group’s short-term plans were to target the security forces and attack Shiites to foment sectarian strife. Then they plan to target foreigners, including those working in the OPEC member’s oil industry, he said.
“What we are seeing now is the short-term plans,” he said.
Mohammad al-Hajji, a Saudi Shiite activist, called on the government to curb hate speech against Shiites in mosques, schools and the media, warning that the growing ISIS threat is “bigger than us.”
“ISIS and whoever is behind it is trying to hit Saudi through the minority to create chaos in the region, and to make Saudi vulnerable,” the activist said. (AP)
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