This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/29/saudi-arabia-suicide-bomb-attack-kills-four-in-damman

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Isis claims responsibility for second Saudi Arabia suicide bombing Second Saudi Arabia suicide bombing fuels Isis campaign fears
(about 2 hours later)
Islamic State has said it carried out the deadly bombing at a Shia mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday, the second attack in the country claimed by the group in a week. In the second attack of its kind in a week, four people have died after a suicide bomber targeted a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, fuelling fears of an organised campaign by Islamic State to foment sectarian tensions inside the conservative Sunni kingdom.
The interior ministry said four people were killed when a car exploded outside al-Anoud mosque in Dammam during noon prayers., Witnesses said a suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up in the car park when guards stopped him from entering the building. Reports from Dammam described a car bomb explosion at the entrance to the al-Anoud mosque, despite security measures put in place because of last Friday’s incident near Qatif, in which 21 people were killed and 120 injured in the worst attack in Saudi Arabia in a decade.
Residents circulated photographs of the body of a man believed to be the attacker as well as images of black plumes of smoke billowing above the car park. Video clips showed men at prayers inside the mosque reacting in alarm when a loud bang was heard. The Saudi Press agency reported that guards had approached the attacker’s car as it was parking and that the driver then detonated the bomb. One of the dead appears to have been the bomber.
Video posted on social media showed the congregation inside the mosque reacting with shock and alarm to the noise of the blast. The latest attack was quickly claimed by Isis, which said the “blessed martyrdom operation” had been carried out by a “soldier of the Caliphate” it named as Abu Jandal al-Jazrawi. General Mansour al-Turki, spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry, said the terrorist was dressed in women’s clothes.
Isis named the bomber as Abu Jandal al-Jizrawi and said he had managed to reach his target despite heightened security. Analysts have described “lone-wolf” initiatives encouraged by Isis, though the speed of the claim of responsibility suggested planning and coordination. Isis has been paying special attention to Saudi Arabia since a speech by its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, excoriating the royal family as the “head of the snake and stronghold of disease”.
The group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing last week at a Shia mosque in al-Qadeeh village, near al-Qatif city. It was the bloodiest militant attack in the kingdom in years, claiming the lives of 21 people as well as wounding almost 100 others. Isis 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 Shia. Saudi Arabia’s special status and legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds rests on its custodianship of the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina.
State news agency SPA quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying security forces became suspicious of a car parked near the mosque in Dammam. The vehicle exploded as they walked towards it, killing four people and setting cars beside it on fire. One of those killed was suspected of being the driver. The latest bombing, like last week’s, was also followed by an Isis statement referring to “Wilayat Nejd”. Wilaya is the Arabic term for province. Nejd is the desert heartland of the Saudi kingdom that was first created in the 18th century – as distinct from the Hejaz – the country’s more liberal region along the Red Sea. It also used sectarian language to vilify Shia Muslims – who make up 15% of the Saudi population.
Activists said young men conducting searches at the mosque began to suspect someone trying to enter the building dressed in women’s clothes and stopped him. They said the bomber turned away and exploded between cars, killing at least two people. The Saudi government has responded to the bombings with expressions of concern and pledges of severe punishment for the perpetrators. Earlier this week the recently appointed Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, visited the al-Qudaih mosque in Qatif where hundreds of thousands turned out for the funerals of the victims. Unusually, Bin Nayef was publicly criticised by a resident who challenged him to put an end to sectarianism. “If you do not do your part … then you are a silent partner in this crime,” the man told the prince. The video showing the encounter was viewed more than 800,000 times in less than 24 hours.
The Saudi authorities have jailed two prominent Shia clerics who have called for reforms such as adopting a constitutional monarchy. Last year one leading cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was sentenced to death for leading protests in Qatif.
In the past few days liberal Saudis have called for an end to sectarian messages in education, the religious establishment and the media – and for a crackdown on extremist Sunni preachers blamed for anti-Shia incitement, often on private TV channels.
“The perpetrators of these murderous acts are driven by an insane ideology disseminated by self-appointed clerics and reformers,” commented the Jeddah-based writer Khaled Al-Maeena. “For too long, we have kept quiet as they used the mosques, the media and other forms of communication to spread their evil philosophy. We … watched silently as some imams spewed hatred and spread falsehood about Muslims of other sects. These illiterate bigots should have been advised to shut up. We should not have remained silent and passive allowing their hatred to continue giving them the opportunity to manipulate the minds of many.”
Less progressive Saudi voices have objected to sectarianism on the grounds that it is used by “Safavid (Iranian)-Zionist-Crusader alliance” against the kingdom, in the words of the influential sheikh Abdulaziz Fawzan.
The Saudi government and many citizens blame Iran, the kingdom’s strategic rival, for backing the Shia-led government in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Bashar al-Assad in Syria and most recently the Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, where the Saudis are leading a bombing campaign to restore the Sana’a government.
The Saudis are also taking part in the US-led campaign against Isis and rebuff criticism that they were responsible for the creation of the group because of previous backing for hardline Islamist factions fighting Assad. Riyadh now works more closely with its allies in Qatar and Turkey in supporting anti-Assad factions. Still, with an estimated 2,500 Saudi citizens having gone to fight in Syria or Iraq in recent years, an official crackdown in recent months may have meant that more Isis supporters are staying at home – and are prepared to act.
Toby Matthiesen, a Saudi Arabia expert at Cambridge University, said: “Saudi Arabia may now have to choose between anti-Shiism as a political tool at home and abroad and the very real threat that extremists taking anti-Shiism too seriously will bring the fight back home – with unpredictable consequences for the stability of Saudi Arabia and the wider region.”