Saudi bombings: 12 Pakistanis arrested

As many as 19 people, including 12 Pakistani nationals, have been arrested in Saudi Arabia following suicide attacks on Monday, including one near Islam’s second-holiest site in the city of Medina, the kingdom’s interior ministry has said.

Seven people are believed to have been killed and two wounded in the Medina attacks, at a Shiite mosque in Qatif and in western Jeddah, the economic capital, not far from the United States consulate.

A 26-year-old Saudi man, Naer Moslem Hammad al-Balawi, who had a “history of drug use” had been identified as the perpetrator of the Medina attack, the ministry said in a statement.

Four people were killed in the Medina explosion near the Prophet’s Mosque, which came as Muslims prepared for this week’s Eid ul-Fitr festival marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramzan.

The body parts of three people were found after another suicide bombing in the Shia-populated Gulf city of Qatif, the ministry said earlier.

Two police officers were wounded in the Jeddah attack. The US embassy in Riyadh reported no casualties among consulate staff during the attack, which coincided with the United States July 4 Independence Day holiday.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the interior minister, said while visiting the wounded policemen in Jeddah that the attacks would “only increase our solidarity and make us stronger.”

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks so far. However, a series of bombings and shootings claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) in Saudi Arabia since late 2014 has targeted minority Shias as well as the security forces, killing dozens.