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Suicide bomber attacks mosque in Saudi Arabia Suicide bomber kills 13 at mosque in Saudi Arabia
(35 minutes later)
A bomb has ripped through a mosque used by Saudi Arabian interior ministry special forces in the south-western city of Abha, killing 17 people, according to state TV. A suicide bomber has killed 13 people and wounded nine at a mosque in Saudi Arabia, the latest in a spate of such attacks in the Gulf kingdom.
An official at the ministry said the bomb targeted police trainees as they were in the middle of prayer. The official could not confirm if the mosque was inside a compound or if the blast was caused by a suicide bomber. The Saudi interior ministry said a bomber wearing suicide vests detonated his explosives during Thursday’s noon prayers at a mosque in the headquarters of the emergency services in Abha, the provincial capital of Asir, near the south-western border with Yemen.
State media reported that the mosque belonged to an interior ministry emergency services post in Abha. The official state news channel Al-Ekhbariya said at least 10 of the dead were members of the security forces. Earlier reports on state TV said 17 people had died. However the government said the blast killed 10 members of the emergency services and three mosque workers. Nine others were wounded, three of whom are in critical condition.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but blame is likely to fall on Islamic State, whose local affiliate has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months. “The incident is being followed up by the relevant security agencies,” the ministry said in the statement, adding that they had found the remnants of suicide vests in the mosque.
A suicide bomber who struck a Shia mosque in the eastern village of al-Qudeeh in May killed 22 people. The incident was the deadliest militant assault in the kingdom in more than a decade, and was followed a week later by a suicide bombing outside another eastern Shia mosque that left four dead.
In November, a gunman opened fire in a mosque in the eastern village of al-Ahsa, killing eight. Several members of the security forces have also been targeted in shooting attacks.
Related: Second Saudi Arabia suicide bombing fuels Isis campaign fearsRelated: Second Saudi Arabia suicide bombing fuels Isis campaign fears
Saudi authorities announced the arrest of more than 400 suspects in July in an anti-terrorism sweep. They said at the time that they had thwarted other Isis attacks being plotted in the kingdom, including a suicide bomb plot targeting a large mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia that can hold 3,000 worshippers, and attempts to attack other mosques, diplomatic missions and security bodies. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Saudi Arabia is also leading a coalition targeting Iran-allied Shia rebels in neighbouring Yemen, near Abha. The rebels have carried out several cross-border attacks against military targets. The attack is the latest in a series of security incidents in the kingdom. Earlier this summer, suicide bombers who pledged allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State (Isis) have bombed Shia mosques in Saudi Arabia during Friday prayers, killing dozens of worshippers.
Those attacks appeared aimed at sowing sectarian tensions in the Gulf states, which have sizeable Shia populations and are fearful of their rival Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East. Isis considers Shia Muslims heretics.
But this latest attack appeared directed at the Saudi authorities, who have arrested dozens of people suspected of belonging to Isis in the country. Saudi Arabia is also part of the American-led coalition against Isis in the region.
The kingdom has grown more militarily assertive in recent months. It has led a bombing campaign against Iran-allied rebels in neighbouring Yemen, and border areas have suffered from a number of cross-border attacks.
In a speech in the spring, the leader of Isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, issued a scathing denunciation of Saudi Arabia and its rulers, predicting the monarchy’s collapse and describing its war in Yemen as a “final spasm” before its death.