Gulf states flay attack in Makkah
dubai — Gulf countries and Al Azhar Al Sharif have strongly condemned the terror plot targeting the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah.
In their separate messages, they reaffirmed their firm support to Saudi Arabia in its fight against terrorism and extremism and praised Saudi security forces for their timely action.
In a statement, Bahrain condemned the vicious terrorist plot, stressing that the despicable act of terrorism is contrary to all religious, moral and humanitarian values.
It also appreciated the role of Saudi Arabia in providing all the comforts and tranquillity to worshippers, visitors and pilgrims.
It also lauded the efforts of the security personnel in thwarting the terror plot.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry condemned the terrorist plot targeting the Grand Mosque.
In a press statement, Kuwait described the plot as a blatant aggression against holy places of Muslims. —
riyadh — A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque at Makkah as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the holy month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jeddah, as well as two areas in Makkah itself, including the Ajyad Al Masafi neighbourhood, located near the Grand Mosque.
There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-storey house with a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and led to the building’s collapse. He was killed while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry’s statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said.
Saudi state television aired footage after the raid on Friday near the Grand Mosque, showing police and rescue personnel running through the neighbourhood’s narrow streets. The blast demolished the building, its walls crushing a parked car as what appeared to be shrapnel and bullet holes peppered nearby structures.
The Interior Ministry “confirms that this terrorist network, whose terrorist plan was thwarted, violated, in what they would have perpetrated, all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth”.
“They obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilise the security and stability of this blessed country,” the statement said.
The ministry did not name the
They (terrorists) obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilise the security and stability of this blessed country Saudi Interior Ministry
group involved in the attack. Saudi Arabia battled an Al Qaeda insurgency for years and more recently has faced attacks from a local branch of the Daesh group. Neither group immediately claimed those arrested, though Daesh sympathisers online have urged more attacks as an offensive in Iraq slowly squeezes the extremists out of Mosul. —