Saudi Arabia says suicide bomber was Islamic State operative : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Saudi Arabia says suicide bomber was Islamic State operative

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has confirmed that Friday’s suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the east of the country that killed 21 was carried out by an Islamic State militant, backing up an earlier claim by the group.



Riyadh, May 24

Saudi Arabia has confirmed that Friday’s suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the east of the country that killed 21 was carried out by an Islamic State militant, backing up an earlier claim by the group.

The Interior Ministry identified the bomber as Saudi citizen Saleh bin Abdulrahman al-Qashaami in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency late yesterday.

Al-Qashaami was wanted for being an active member of an Islamic State-linked terrorist cell, the ministry said. Lab tests showed that the explosive use in the bombing was a military-grade compound known as RDX.

The attack in the village of al-Qudeeh in the eastern Qatif region was the deadliest assault by militants in the kingdom since a 2004 al-Qaida attack on foreign worker compounds. It targeted members of Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority a sect that both the Islamic State group and ultraconservatives in Saudi Arabia regularly denounce as heretics.

A statement from the Islamic State group’s al-Bayan radio station that was posted to militant websites yesterday said a new branch of the group was behind the attack, which it said was carried out by a Saudi going by the nom de guerre Abu Amer al-Najdi.

The Islamic State’s activities are primarily focused on Iraq and Syria. Its claim of responsibility for Friday’s large-scale attack and the official Saudi confirmation bolster concerns that the group has established a toehold inside the oil-rich kingdom, as it has done in Libya and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

It has warned of more “black days” for Shiites in Saudi Arabia, a member of the US-led coalition that began targeting the group last year.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said the group also was responsible for the shooting death of a police officer in Riyadh earlier this month. It said five members of an Islamic State cell killed Pvt Majed Ayedh al-Ghamdi and burned his body. Authorities recovered guns, ammunition, explosives and other items from a farm linked to the militants, it said. — AP

Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All