Suicide bomber ‘disguised as woman’ blows himself up outside mosque
DAMMAM: – An explosion outside a mosque filled with worshippers in Saudi city of Dammam killed four people Friday, the second attack in a week on a Shia Muslim mosque in the tightly controlled kingdom.
In a Twitter message, the ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, referring to the mosque as a “Polytheistic monument” and identifying the bomber as Abu Jned al Zazwari.
According to reports, suicide bomber, disguised as woman, detonated explosives at the Imam Hussein mosque in Dammam, a city of about one million on the Persian Gulf in eastern Saudi Arabia.
It followed a similar bombing, for which the ISIS also claimed responsibility, in the city of Qatif last week in which 21 worshippers died.
Activists said young men conducting searches at the mosque began to suspect someone trying to enter the mosque dressed in women’s clothes and stopped him.
They said the bomber turned away and exploded between cars, killing at least four people and setting several cars on fire.
They identified one of the victims as Abdel-Jalil Taher al-Arbash and said he had recently returned from studying in the United States.
Dammam is the key city in oil rich eastern Saudi Arabia where most of the Shia Muslims live.
The new assault came a week after a bombing hit a mosque during Friday prayers in the al-Qudaih village in the provinces Qatif district, killing 21 worshipers, including two children.
SECTARIAN CONFRONTATION
ISIS openly acknowledges it is trying to stir sectarian confrontation as a way of hastening the overthrow of the ruling Al Saud family, and has urged young Saudi Sunnis in the kingdom to attack targets including Shias.
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, emir of neighboring Kuwait, said on Wednesday sectarian strife was the most serious threat facing Muslims and called for immediate action to tackle it.
Some commentators in Saudi Arabia discussing the Qatif bombing have said the kingdom has not done enough to crack down on online abuse of Shia, a discourse which they say provides an incubator for violence against the minority sect.
ISIS sympathizers exchanged photos of the scene on social media, saying the attack was targeting “rejectionsists” — a term usually used by the militant group or al Qaeda.
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