JEDDAH: There was tight security at mosques throughout the Kingdom on Friday, particularly in the Eastern Province, a week after the deadly attack on a mosque in Al-Ahsa that saw several people killed and injured.

There was a heavy presence of security teams assigned by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, with officers outlining the new measures to worshipers.

This included a ban on small vehicles parking within the courtyards of mosques, with many directed to park at a distance from places of worship. Searches were also conducted on individuals identified by the officers, a media report said on Friday.

The department of mosques in the Eastern Province stated that measures were also taken to check children accompanying parents to mosques, to make sure that they were not being used by terrorists to carry out attacks.

Abdulrahman Meshal, an imam and preacher at a mosque in Dammam, said the measures were conducted in a manner that ensured worshippers were not delayed, but with security as a top priority. This was why children were also under surveillance, he said.

Another preacher in Alkhobar, Sultan Al-Fawaz, said the measures were introduced not only at Shiite places of worship but at all mosques. “There can also be attacks on Sunni mosques by seditious troublemakers,” he said.

In Bahrain, Public Security Chief Maj. Gen. Tariq Al-Hassan issued a statement, saying: “Our forces are fully ready to deal with any future attacks. We raised the level of alert as part of a security plan to prevent the targeting of places of worship. Following the incident at Imam Rida Mosque, a new plan was established in coordination with a number of Gulf States.”

Al-Hassan said the plan included drafting in extra security officers and setting up barriers and barricades to ensure all vehicles park a significant distance away from mosques.