JEDDAH: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and interior minister, on Tuesday assured the public that the kingdom's security continues to be strengthened in the wake of suicide bombings in Madinah, Jeddah and Qatif.
Four police officers were killed in Monday's attacks and several others were wounded. No group has claimed responsibility but Daesh terror group is a prime suspect, having carried similar bombings in the kingdom in the past year, targeting Shiite Muslims and Saudi security forces.
Crown Prince Mohammed visited two security officers and a citizen wounded in the bombing in Jeddah on Monday evening.
“The security of the homeland is good, it is at its highest levels and thanks be to God it gets stronger every day,” SPA quoted Prince Mohammed as saying during the visit.
The Ministry of Interior has identified the Jeddah bomber as Abdullah Qalzar Khan, a Pakistani national who has lived in the city for 12 years as a private driver. In that attack, the bomber detonated his explosives after two security guards approached him, killing himself and lightly wounding the two guards, the Interior Ministry said.
The attacks have rattled Muslims in the kingdom as they prepare to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr from Wednesday following the month-long Ramadan when they fast from dawn to dusk.
Prince Mohammed has been credited for successfully ending a bombing campaign by Al-Qaeda in the kingdom between 2003-2006.
“I know that terrorist operations are not a simple thing, and the minor impacts that you feel now will go away, God willing,” Prince Mohammed said, according to SPA. “I had been through this in the past and feel what you feel,” he added, referring to a suicide bombing he had survived in his office in 2009.
Saudi security officials say the group’s supporters inside the kingdom mainly act independently, depending on the Daesh based in Iraq and Syria for only limited logistical help and advice, making them harder to detect, but also less capable of mounting attacks on well-protected targets.
Global phenomenon
In Pakistan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria condemned the attacks and expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, saying the kingdom valued the contributions of Pakistani guest workers.
“Terrorism is a global phenomenon and is not country- or people-specific,” Zakaria said.
There are around 9 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a total population of 30 million. Among all foreigners living in the kingdom, Pakistanis represent one of the largest groups.
Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain, who had been visiting the kingdom for a religious pilgrimage, left Jeddah on Tuesday.
In the Madinah blast, the MOI said the attacker set off the bomb in a parking lot after security officers became suspicious about him. Several cars caught fire and thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site of the explosion as thousands of worshippers crowded the streets around the mosque.
Worshippers expressed shock that such a prominent holy site could be targeted.
“That’s not an act that represents Islam,” said Altayeb Osama, a 25-year-old Sudanese visitor to Medina and resident of Abu Dhabi who heard two large booms about a minute apart as he was heading toward the mosque for sunset prayers on Monday. “People never imagined that this could happen here.”
The Prophet Muhammad’s mosque was packed on Monday evening with worshippers during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in the kingdom on Tuesday. Local media say the attacker was intending to strike the mosque when it was crowded with thousands of worshippers gathered for the sunset prayer.
Qari Ziyaad Patel, 36, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as people were breaking their fast with dates. Many at first thought it was the sound of traditional, celebratory cannon fire, he said.
“I actually felt the ground shake,” he said. “The vibrations were very strong. ... It sounded like a building imploded.”
State-run news channel Al-Ekhbariya aired live video of the mosque filled with worshippers praying hours after the explosion.
Crown prince: I know how you feel, we’ll crush terror
Crown prince: I know how you feel, we’ll crush terror
