Saudi Arabia says mosque suicide bomber was Saudi citizen
Xinhua, August 8, 2015 Adjust font size:
Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that the suicide bomber who killed 15 people in a mosque attack in southern the kingdom on Thursday was a Saudi national, Al Arabiya News channel reported.
The Saudi Interior Ministry identified the bomber as Yousif bin Sulaiman bin Abdullah, 21.
It said the attacker blew himself up while the worshipers were performing the afternoon prayer in a mosque of an Emergency Force in Abha, the capital of the southern Asir province.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack that also left 33 others wounded.
The group published the image of the bomber without stating his name, and confirmed that he used an explosive belt in the attack.
The deaths included five policemen, six trainees who were receiving training to join Hajj-related security jobs and four Bangladeshi migrant workers.
It was the third suicide blast that targeted mosques in Saudi Arabia in recent months. The IS claimed responsibility for the three blasts.
The ministry announced in July that its agencies succeeded in foiling four mosque attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and arrested 431 IS members. Endit