KSA receives outpouring of support against terror attacks

Madinah Governor Prince Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz (2R) and security officers inspect the site of a deadly suicide attack near the security headquarters outside the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah on Monday. (AFP)

JEDDAH: World political and religious leaders expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as they condemned Monday’s terror attacks that killed four policemen as Muslims prepare for Eid Al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan.
Four suicide bombers were also killed in the attacks — the first at 2:15 a.m. near the US Consulate in Jeddah, followed by the almost simultaneous attacks near the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and two outside the Faraj Al-Omran Mosque in Qatif.
There were no claims of responsiblity for Monday’s bombings in Medina, Jeddah and the eastern city of Qatif, but the Daesh group had urged its supporters to carry out attacks during Ramadan.
The terrorist group has claimed or been blamed for a wave of shootings and bombings during the holy month this year, including in Orlando, Bangladesh, Istanbul and Baghdad.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif received messages of support and condolences from government and religious leaders around the world.
Among those who called King Salman were Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and other officials of the kingdom, Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
The UN human rights chief the suicide bombing outside the Prophet Muhammad’s Mosque an attack on Islam itself.
Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a member of the Jordanian royal family, delivered his remarks via a spokesman in Geneva.
“This is one of the holiest sites in Islam, and for such an attack to take place there, during Ramadan, can be considered a direct attack on Muslims all across the world,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a member of the Jordanian royal family.
“It is an attack on the religion itself,” he said.
Pakistan also strongly condemned the terrorist bombings, with Foreign Office spokesman Nevis Zakaria saying “the Pakistani government and people feel deep pain about these terrorist acts.”
Australia’s mufti, Sheikh Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, and the Council of Australian Imams, condemned the terror attacks as “crimes against humanity.”
Lebanese Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian said the bombings, especially in the vicinity of the Prophet's Mosque, was an “aggression against all Muslims in the world and is a provocation to the feelings of all Arabs and Muslims.”
Saying that terrorists have no religion, he called for concerted Islamic, Arab and international efforts to eliminated the world menace of terrorism.
He also pointed out that terrorism is a “malignant disease” that cannot be eradicated unless the position of the Arabs and Muslims as a whole are united.
Kuwait’s National Assembly described the attacks as “cowardly”, saying that no one expects Muslims to murder fellow Muslims, especially near the Prophet’s Mosque. He stressed that these terror attacks were “motivated by creating chaos and instability in the region, spreading terror in the hearts of unsuspecting Muslims especially in the land of Saudi Arabia, which has achieved many successes in the fight against this deviant thought… .”
Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Jarwan, president of the Arab Parliament, said the attacks were contrary to Islamic teachings.

Outrage
Abdullah Al-Sheikh, head of the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, condemned the attacks and stressed “the sanctity of the houses of God, especially the Prophet’s Mosque.”
“This crime, which causes goosebumps, could not have been perpetrated by someone who had an atom of belief in his heart,” Abdullah Al-Sheikh said.
The governments of Turkey and Lebanon joined in the condemnation, while Iraq said the attacks amounted to “heinous crimes.”
Middle East expert Madhawi Al-Rasheed said the attack in Medina appeared aimed at humiliating the Saudi government, the guardian of Islam’s holiest sites.
“It’s an attempt to actually embarrass the Saudi government because it boasts of protecting the pilgrims and the holy places,” said Rasheed, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute.
There also seemed to be an “organized effort by the perpetrators to coordinate their work,” potentially signalling a worsening security situation in Saudi, she said.
Saudi Arabia’s supreme council of clerics said the blasts “prove that those renegades... have violated everything that is sacred.”
The attack drew condemnation across Islam’s religious divide, with Shiite power Iran calling for Muslim unity after the attacks in its Sunni-dominated regional rival.
“There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.
Lebanon-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah — which Saudi Arabia accuses of supporting “terrorist acts” across the region — also denounced the Medina attack as “a new sign of the terrorists’ contempt for all that Muslims consider sacred.”