Suicide bombers attack three Saudi Arabian cities

[webfact]

Suicide bombers attack three Saudi Arabian cities



MEDINA: -- Three suicide bombers have struck in three Saudi Arabian cities just before the end of Ramadan, which runs through Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Medina the bomber set off his device near the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s most sacred sites, killing two security officers.

Two other bombers attacked targets in Qatif, on the border with Kuwait, and in Saudi Arabia’s second city Jeddah, but without claiming any victims.

The bomber in Jeddah appeared to be targeting the US consulate on America’s independence day public holiday.

In Qatif it was a Shi’ite mosque that was targeted by at least one explosion. In May 2015 another Shi’ite mosque in the city was attacked, killing 21 people.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-07-05

[webfact]

Explosion near one of Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia
By AYA BATRAWY

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An explosion went off outside one of Islam's holiest sites Monday just as the call to sunset prayers was ending and hours after suicide bombers struck in two other Saudi cities. There were no immediate confirmations of anyone killed in the three incidents.

Sabq news site and other local media, quoting unnamed sources, said the explosion outside the Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Medina was caused by a suicide bomber near a security building. The bomber reportedly sat briefly with security guards as they were breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast before detonating his vest.

Several cars caught fire and thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site of the explosion as thousands of worshippers crowded the streets around the mosque.

The Interior Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. No group claimed responsibility for any of the attacks.

The sprawling mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried is visited by millions of Muslims from around the world each year during pilgrimages to Mecca. The area was packed with pilgrims for prayer during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in the kingdom on Tuesday.

Altayeb Osama, a 25-year old Sudanese visitor to Medina and resident of Abu Dhabi, said he heard two large booms about a minute apart as he was heading toward the mosque for sunset prayers. He said police and fire trucks were on the scene within seconds.

"It was very shocking that such a thing happens in such a holy place for Muslims, the second holiest place in the world. That's not an act that represents Islam," Osama said. "People never imagined that this could happen here."

Qari Ziyaad Patel, 36, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as people were breaking their fast with dates. Many at first thought it was the sound of traditional, celebratory cannon fire, but then he felt the ground shake.

"The vibrations were very strong," he said. "It sounded like a building imploded."

Saudi Arabia's state-run news channel al-Ekhbariya aired live video of thousands of worshippers praying inside the mosque hours after the explosion. It also showed footage of Saudi King Salman's son and the Governor of Medina, Prince Faisal bin Salman, visiting security officers wounded in the blast and the site of the explosion.

Also Monday evening, at least one suicide bomber and a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to a resident there, several hours after another suicide bomber carried out an attack near the U.S. Consulate in the western city of Jiddah.

Saudi Arabia has been a target of Islamic State attacks that have killed dozens of people. In June, the Interior Ministry reported 26 terror attacks in the kingdom in the last two years.

The possibility of coordinated attacks across different cities in Saudi Arabia on the same day underscores the threat the kingdom faces from extremists who view the Western-allied Saudi monarchy as heretics and enemies of Islam. Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The attack in the eastern region of Qatif did not appear to cause any injuries, said resident Mohammed al-Nimr. His brother, prominent Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, was executed in January after a court found him guilty of sedition and inciting violence for his role in anti-government protests.

Qatif is heavily populated by Shiites, who are a minority in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. Al-Nimr said that near the body of a suicide bomber was a car bomb that also went off around the same time. He told The Associated Press the bomber detonated his suicide vest when most residents of the neighborhood were at home breaking the daily Ramadan fast.

Several state-linked media reported that two suicide bombers died in the attack, which was aimed at a Shiite mosque.

IS and other Sunni extremists consider Shiites to be apostates deserving of death. IS affiliates in the kingdom have previously attacked Shiite places of worship, including a suicide bombing on a Shiite mosque in Qatif in May 2015 that killed 21 people.

Earlier Monday, the Interior Ministry said a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives when security guards approached him near the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah. The attacker died and the two security men were lightly wounded.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki was quoted in a statement as saying the guards noticed the man was acting suspiciously at an intersection on the corner of the heavily fortified consulate, near a hospital and a mosque.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed there were no casualties among consular staff. The Interior Ministry did not say whether the bomber intended to target the U.S. diplomatic compound.

The ministry said the bomber was not a Saudi citizen, but a resident of the kingdom. It gave no further details on his nationality. There are around 9 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a total population of 30 million.

State-run al-Ekhbariya said security forces detonated six explosive devices found at the scene.

A 2004 al-Qaida-linked militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah killed five locally hired consular employees and four gunmen. The three-hour battle at the compound came amid a wave of al-Qaida attacks targeting Westerners and Saudi security posts.

___

Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-05

[Somtamnication]

"The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed there were no casualties among consular staff. The Interior Ministry did not say whether the bomber intended to target the U.S. diplomatic compound". Geez, what do you think?

[webfact]

The Latest: 4 killed, 5 wounded in Saudi attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on attacks in Saudi Arabia (all times local):

12:40 a.m.

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry says four security officers were killed and five others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside one of Islam's holiest sites.

The Monday evening attack took place just as thousands of worshippers were about to hold sunset prayers in the mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried in Medina. The mosque is visited by millions of Muslims from around the world annually performing pilgrimage in Mecca.


The ministry statement, carried Monday on the state-run al-Ekhbariya news channel, said the attacker set off the bomb after security officers raised suspicions about him. The attack took place in a parking lot outside the sprawling mosque complex.

12:20 a.m.

Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have condemned blasts in Saudi Arabia, including an explosion outside the Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Medina.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry says the reported attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan near one of Islam's most sacred places confirms that terrorism "knows no religion or belief or any meaning of humanity."

A Foreign Ministry official in the UAE was quoted in the state-run WAM news agency as saying the stability of Saudi Arabia "is the main pillar of the stability of the United Arab Emirates and the whole of the Gulf Arab region."

The secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is headquartered in Saudi Arabia, says the attacks are an attempt to destabilize the kingdom. Iyad Madani says the kingdom's security is "the cornerstone of security and stability in the region and the Islamic world."

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, which also struck outside a Shiite mosque in the kingdom's east and near the U.S. Consulate in the western city of Jiddah.

11:40 p.m.

The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has condemned a reported suicide bombing near the Prophet Muhammad's mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina.

Saudi media reported an explosion just outside the sprawling mosque earlier Monday, citing unnamed sources as saying it was caused by a suicide bomber.

Hezbollah said the reported attack near one of Islam's holiest sites in the final days of Ramadan was another sign "of how these terrorists disregard all that is sacred to Muslims and all that which they agreed to respect."

The group said attacks in recent days in Turkey, Iraq, Bangladesh and Lebanon confirm "that this dangerous epidemic needs a serious and different treatment."

It called on the world to unite against terrorism and not to use it in "political score-settling which only reflects negatively on all without exception."

Hezbollah is a bitter opponent of the Sunni monarchy's policies in the region and is battling Saudi-supported rebel groups in Syria's civil war.

11:20 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's state-run news channel is airing live video of thousands of worshippers praying inside the Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Medina, hours after local media reported that a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside the mosque's sprawling grounds near a security building.

Al-Ekhbariya showed worshippers praying shoulder to shoulder inside the mosque Monday evening.

The mosque was packed with pilgrims and visitors from around the world for the final days of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The Interior Ministry has not yet issued a statement on the explosion and could not be immediately reached for comment.

The mosque, where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, is one of Islam's holiest sites and is traditionally visited by people making pilgrimages in Mecca.

10 p.m.

State-linked Saudi news websites, quoting unnamed security officials, say an explosion in Medina was caused by a suicide bomber.

Sabq reported that the suicide bomber detonated his vest near a security building outside the sprawling mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, one of Islam's holiest sites. The area was packed with pilgrims for prayer during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Qari Ziyaad Patel, 36, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as the call to sunset prayers was ending and people were breaking their fast. Many at first thought it was the sound of traditional, celebratory cannon fire, but then he felt the ground shake.

He says "the vibrations were very strong... it sounded like a building imploded."

8:50 p.m.

State-linked Saudi news websites say an explosion has gone off outside one of Islam's holiest sites in the city of Medina, the same day that two suicide bombers struck different cities in Saudi Arabia.

Sabq news site reported that the explosion took place Monday evening. Other sites showed images of what appeared to be a fire outside one of the buildings overlooking the Prophet's Mosque. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded.

The sprawling mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried is visited by millions of Muslims from around the world each year during pilgrimages to Mecca. The area would have been teeming with pilgrims for prayer during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.

The Interior Ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.

8:30 p.m.

A resident in the largely Shiite eastern Saudi Arabian region of Qatif says a suicide bomber and a car bomb have struck a neighborhood there, but that no injuries were immediately reported.

Mohammed al-Nimr told The Associated Press the bomber detonated his suicide vest Monday evening when most residents of the neighborhood were at home breaking the Ramadan fast.

Qatif is heavily populated by Shiites, who are a minority in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. Al-Nimr says that near the body of a suicide bomber was a car bomb that also went off around the same time.

The attacks struck next to a Shiite mosque. The Islamic State group has in the past attacked Shiite places of worship in Qatif.

8:30 a.m.

A suicide bomber carried out an attack early on Monday near a U.S. diplomatic site in the western Saudi city of Jiddah, according to the Interior Ministry.

The ministry said the attacker detonated his suicide vest when security guards approached him near the parking lot of a hospital. The attacker died and two security men were wounded with minor injuries, according to the ministry statement, which was published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Some cars in the parking lot were damaged.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki was quoted in the statement as saying the attacker caught the attention of the security guards, who noticed he was acting suspiciously at an intersection located on the corner of the heavily fortified U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, located by the Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital. Most of the consulate's staff had reportedly moved offices to a new location.

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia confirmed there were no casualties or injuries among the consular staff. The embassy said it remains in contact with Saudi authorities as they investigate the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for attack.

The Interior Ministry did not specify if it there are indications the bomber intended to target the U.S. diplomatic compound, saying an investigation was underway to determine his identity.

A 2004 al-Qaida-linked militant attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah killed five locally hired consular employees and four gunmen. The three-hour battle on the compound came amid a wave of al-Qaida attacks targeting Westerners and Saudi security posts.

More recently, Saudi Arabia has been a target of Islamic State group attacks that have killed dozens of people. The extremist Sunni group views the Western-allied Saudi monarchy and government as heretics. Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

In June, the Interior Ministry reported 26 terror attacks had taken place in the kingdom in the last two years. Local affiliates of the IS group have targeted minority Shiites and security officials.

Monday's attack comes just days before the end of the holy month of Ramadan, during which observant Muslims fast daily from dawn to dusk.

The U.S. Embassy regularly issues advisory messages for U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia. In a message issued Sunday and another one issued after the attack Monday, the embassy urged Americans to "remain aware of their surroundings, and take extra precautions when travelling throughout the country." It also advised citizens to "carefully consider the risks of traveling to Saudi Arabia."


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-05

[ezzra]

Now the Saudis are on the receiving ends of terrorism, something they're very familiar with being a wholesale instigator, financiers and exporters of their Wahhabism indoctrinations of many poor African and Kosovo and Bosnia, They have been pushing their brand of extreme Islam teaching in many countries with the support of other Gulf states, setting up Madrasas and recruiting young men to go fight in Syria....... So now the shoe is on the other foot, welcome to the new age of " you reap what you saw ".....

[ChrisY1]

Karma..........

[mopar71]

One more day of Ramadan then everyone can relax as we get back to less frequent terror attacks.

[canuckamuck]

Such a strange holiday - starve yourself and blow people up.

I much prefer eating turkey and watching football.

[malathione]

Chickens, home, roost.

[shirtless]

I hope the Saudi learns from this but i doubt it very much.

[gandalf12]

Qatif has been a hotbed for dissent for years so it isn't any real surprise. The one thing that is surprising is that Saudi has reported the attacks, normally they try to cover everything up so no one knows about it.

[NumbNut]

Qatif has been a hotbed for dissent for years so it isn't any real surprise. The one thing that is surprising is that Saudi has reported the attacks, normally they try to cover everything up so no one knows about it.

Because it serves a purpose

[mesterm]

And they want Shariah law in Britain?

[Oxx]

Why assume that it was Moslems did it? It could have been Jews trying to foment unrest. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what's going to be preached from the minbar in many mosques worldwide on Friday and in coming months.

[gandalf12]

Qatif has been a hotbed for dissent for years so it isn't any real surprise. The one thing that is surprising is that Saudi has reported the attacks, normally they try to cover everything up so no one knows about it.

Because it serves a purpose

or maybe because other news agencies have already reported it

[Nasrullah]

Qatif has been a hotbed for dissent for years so it isn't any real surprise. The one thing that is surprising is that Saudi has reported the attacks, normally they try to cover everything up so no one knows about it.

Because it serves a purpose

or maybe because other news agencies have already reported it

bit hard to hide this sort of attack!........I guess there is some payback for the indiscriminate bombings on yemen.....no sympathy!

[AhFarangJa]

Why assume that it was Moslems did it? It could have been Jews trying to foment unrest. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what's going to be preached from the minbar in many mosques worldwide on Friday and in coming months.

Bit difficult to blame a Jew considering they are not allowed anywhere near Saudi Arabia. Saudi does not recognise Israel. In fact, if you work in Saudi and visit Israel you will not be allowed back if they see an Israeli stamp in your passport. Of course, I think you could also have posted tongue in cheek....

on another issue, the original article states Quatif is on the border with Kuwait............go to the back of the class..........it is a good 400 kilometres south....

[SOTIRIOS]

...when you can't have 'all-out war'....have 'terrorists'.....then you can do what you very well please with the population....

...too obvious by now....isn't it....???

...

[Galactus]

no respect for Saudi Arabia still, sad for the innocent people that are killed and patience for the families of deceased.

Saudi Arabia supported every jihadists from Al Qaeda to ISIS.

Their bigot wahhabism turned this world to a dangerous place and turned many muslim into biggots and wahhabism is a pervert sect interpreting Quran according to their agenda and to keep their rant.

lets see what happened to wahhabi Saudi King before during Ottoman times, 215 year ago. Wahhabism was count as an illegal sect and count as terrorists by Ottomans which is a muslim state too and by other Muslim around those times, wahhabis those times were seeing Ottomans as infidels!

In 1801, the tomb of Hussein bin Ali (Prophet Mohammad's grandson) in Karbala was destroyed by the army of Abdullah bin Saud, causing anger among the Shiite Muslims.^[1] Additionally, many people in Islam's holiest cities of Makkah and Madinah were killed and Prophet Mohammad's Mosque was damaged by his army in the same year. As a result, the Ottoman authorities found themselves in a situation that they had to punish the Saudis for their crimes because the Ottomans were the official ruler of the Arabian Peninsula. The guardian of Islam's religious places was the Turkish-Ottoman Caliph in Constantinople, Mahmud II.^[1] Bin Saud, aWahabi/Salafi following the Athari (literalist) school of Islamic theology, called the Sultan Mahmud II an infidel based on the Sultan's support of Maturidi beliefs.^[2] Mahmud II ordered that an Egyptian force be sent to the Arabian Peninsula to defeat Abdullah bin Saud and his allies. In 1818, an Egyptian army led by Ibrahim Pasha (Mohammad Ali's son) completely destroyed Abdullah's forces and took their capital, Diriyah in Najd. Abdullah bin Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, was captured along with two of his Wahhabi supporters. They were then sent to prison in Constantinople. Abdullah and his two followers were publicly beheaded for their crimes against holy cities and mosques.^[1] Prior to his execution, bin Saud, a Wahhabi who was forbidden to listen to music, was forced to listen to the lute.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Galactus

[Usernames]

Islam. Holy Site. Bomb. Seems to be a sure fire formula no matter where you are.

[farcanell]

Karma..........

Stupid Tuesday again, Chris.

Those incompetent bustards!

Three bombers (and a car?)... Four dead.... (Plus the three bombers)... And 216 vestal virgins wasted.

[JHolmesJr]

Such a strange holiday - starve yourself and blow people up.

It's not really starving….its more like spacing out your meals….they eat like pigs at 5am…..then do the same at 7pm.

[canuckamuck]

Such a strange holiday - starve yourself and blow people up.

It's not really starving….its more like spacing out your meals….they eat like pigs at 5am…..then do the same at 7pm.

So except for exploding the neighbors, it's pretty average stuff then?

[natway09]

Getting some of their own back.

I wonder who funded them?

[Alive]

Does anyone think Saudi Arabia could ever go the way of the other nations in the area? I mean with daily chaos and violence and with cities falling to certain fanatical groups? Is it at all possible? A lot of foreigners live there. What happens if they start leaving? Maybe its a good thing for the locals.

[Kiwiken]

Absolute Karma

[Oxx]

Does anyone think Saudi Arabia could ever go the way of the other nations in the area? I mean with daily chaos and violence and with cities falling to certain fanatical groups?

In a sense it has already gone that way - in fact it took the lead. The Wahabist doctrine - the extreme, repressive, and fanatical version of Islam - stems from Saudi Arabia, and is funded throughout the world by Saudi Arabia. This is also the doctrine that inspires "Islamic State".

Acts of terrorism are already frequent in Saudi Arabia, including attacks on Westerners.

It is only the iron-fisted rule of the monarchy (backed by enormous oil wealth and with the grudging agreement of the senior clerics) there that maintains a semblance of normality.

[AhFarangJa]

Agreed Oxx, Except now there is no vast oil wealth. The profligacy of nearly a generation has all but wiped that out. Saudi is in trouble financially. State subsidies on Petrol, water, and Electricity have been removed or drastically reduced. Many companies are now being told to pay salaries in Saudi Riyals into a Saudi bank. There are rumours also of introducing Tax to the expats in the form of a 6% levy on any money remitted from the Kingdom. I think there may well be big changes in the next few years, unfortunately, as is seen in other countries around here, the people cannot live in a Democracy, they need to be dictated to.

[Oxx]

Except now there is no vast oil wealth. The profligacy of nearly a generation has all but wiped that out. Saudi is in trouble financially.

Not really. The current problems stem from the fact that Saudi Arabia is trying to put shale oil producers in America out of business by providing vast amounts of oil at a price cheaper than that at which the American producers can be profitable. With them American producers out of business Saudi Arabia would then be free to jack up the price to much higher levels.

This ploy hasn't worked as well, or as quickly as Saudi Arabia had hoped, for various reasons, not least being the post-sanctions reemergence of Iran as a significant oil exporter. However, for the meantime they are sticking to their policy and keeping the taps wide open. If the policy eventually works, the Arabs pain will only be temporary.

[Rancid]

Reap what you sow...