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Islamic State group claims Saudi mosque suicide blast | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
A suicide bomb attack on a mosque in Saudi Arabia has left 15 people dead, the interior ministry says. | |
A senior Saudi official said the mosque in Abha, close to the Yemeni border, was used by the security forces. | |
The Islamic State (IS) group says it carried out the attack. The group has already claimed two deadly attacks on Shia mosques in May. | |
IS last year urged its followers in Saudi Arabia to sow sectarian hatred by targeting the minority Shia population. | |
Saudi officials said the bomb in the latest attack went off while members of the security forces were in the middle of prayer. | |
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki said preliminary findings from the investigation suggested the suicide bomber had been wearing an explosive belt. | |
The death toll was initially put at 13, but the interior ministry later said two of the wounded had died. | |
In May, a suicide bomber killed at least 21 people in an attack on a Shia mosque in Qatif governorate. A week later, another attack at a Shia mosque in Dammam left four dead. | |
Last month Saudi authorities arrested 431 suspected members of IS, accusing them of plotting suicide attacks on security forces and mosques in various parts of the country. | Last month Saudi authorities arrested 431 suspected members of IS, accusing them of plotting suicide attacks on security forces and mosques in various parts of the country. |