DAMMAM: More than 60 people, including security personnel, were martyred and over 200 wounded during 15 months since the Daesh terror organization began its operations in Saudi Arabia, while the number of suicide bombers killed reached 26.

Daesh began its operation in the Kingdom in November 2014 with four masked men opening fire at a Shiite shrine in Dalwah village of Al-Ahsa region, killing eight citizens and injuring nine.

Within two months, that is in January 2015, four terrorists targeted Suwayf Center on the Saudi-Iraqi border, in which three Saudi guards were martyred.

On May 9, 2015, three terrorists carried out a heinous crime in Riyadh, in which they killed a security man and burned his body. Again, on May 22,, a terrorist blew himself up during Friday prayers at a mosque in the village of Al-Qadeeh, Qatif, killing 22 and wounding 102. Days later, a Daesh bomber, who was dressed as a woman, detonated an explosives belt he was wearing at the entrance of Al-Anoud Mosque in Dammam, killing four people.

On July 3, a policeman was killed by Daesh during a counter-terror operation in Taif. Within two weeks, on July 16, a security officer was killed by a Daesh terrorist, followed by a bombing of a police checkpoint in Riyadh.

Again on Aug. 6, an explosion at the Special Emergency Forces Mosque in Abha claimed the lives of 12 security personnel and four employees of the mosque and left 33 others injured.

On Oct. 16, a gunman killed five people and wounded 12 in a mosque in Saihat town before police shot him dead. In Najran, a suicide bomber blew himself up on Oct. 26 while trying to enter a mosque during the Maghreb prayer, resulting in the death of two people and injuries to 19.

Last Friday, Mahasen neighborhood in Al-Ahsa witnessed a terrorist attack carried out by two suicide bombers. Four people were killed and 36 injured when one of the bombers blew himself up and his accomplice opened fire when alert security men stopped them at the gate of the mosque.

Most perpetrators of Daesh’s bloody operations were aged between 15 and 22 years. According to experts, this age group is usually characterized with recklessness and lack of analytical thinking and hence it is targeted by terrorist organizations.

These terrorist attacks were accompanied by an expanded security campaign to catch those involved. On Sept. 17, 2015, the Ministry of Interior announced the busting of a Daesh cell in Riyadh through two raids at the same time.

Also, police officers arrested two brothers, Ahmed Saeed Al-Zahrani, 21, and Mohammed Saeed Al-Zahrani, 19, during a security raid in Riyadh. A Daesh hideout was raided in the Dharma region, south of Riyadh, and the police confiscated about SR400,000 cameras, an explosives belt and ammunition. There was an exchange of fire with the wanted terrorist, who fled.

On Sept. 27, security forces cordoned off the Badr neighborhood of Dammam and arrested some suspects involved in attacks in the Hail region.

In addition, the security forces arrested a Syrian and a Filipino in Al-Fayhaa on Oct. 3 for producing explosives belts. Besides, the security forces seized weapons, detonators and machine guns and labs for explosive belts in Riyadh.