AMN
Six foreign pilgrims were injured when a suicide bomber targeting Islam’s holiest site of Makkah blew himself up yesterday.The Saudi Interior Ministry said, security forces have prevented the imminent attack on the Grand Mosque in Makkah. It said, five security men were also slightly hurt. The suspect refused to comply with demands to surrender, opened fire on security forces and then killed himself. Interior Ministry spokesman said, four injured have already been released from the hospital.
It said, five people, including one woman, suspected of involvement in the plot were arrested. The Saudi Interior Ministry said that three groups, two based in Mecca and one in Jeddah, planned the attack.
The security spokesman explained that one of the sites was in the province of Jeddah, and the two others were in Makkah.
The first was in the neighborhood of Asilah, and the second in Ajyad Al-Masafi, located within the perimeter of the central area of the Grand Mosque, the spokesman said.
One site was a three-story house that contained the suicide bomber in charge of implementation. When the security men began to surround him, he fired at them, which required a response to him in order to neutralize his danger after refusing to respond to their calls to surrender.
He continued to shoot heavily before exploding himself, resulting in his death, the collapse of the building that he was in and the wounding of six expatriates who were taken to hospital, in addition to the injury of five security personnel with minor injuries.
The security spokesman said the security operation resulted in the arrest of five elements of the cell, including a woman, after raiding their positions.
The security authorities are still conducting their investigations, lifting the remaining evidence at the site of the explosion and verifying the identity of the suicide bomber.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that this terrorist network intended to violate the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth.
Similar incidents occured last year near the end of Ramadan in the Saudi city of Medina where four security officers died in an explosion close to Islam’s second holiest site, the Prophet’s Mosque.
UAE has condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack targetting the al-Masjid al-Haram in the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement that the UAE backs and stands in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He hailed the vigilance and efficiency of the Saudi security services that prevented the attack.