Manama: The Saudi education minister attended the funeral of five of the people who were killed as a teacher opened fire seemingly at random inside their building.
Ahmad Al Eisa was among senior education officials to offer his condolences at the funeral on Saturday afternoon attended by several teachers, relatives and friends of the deceased, Saudi daily Al Riyadh reported.
The sixth victim was buried in another town while the seventh victim of the mass shooting in the southern region of Jazan will be buried after the forensic doctors extract all the bullets from his body as requested by the investigators looking into the incident, reports in Saudi Arabia said.
The tragedy occurred on Thursday afternoon when the killer stormed into the education building and fired at the men.
Witnesses said that he later attempted to flee the scene in his car, but was eventually caught and referred to the public prosecution for investigation.
Jazan Governor Prince Mohammad Bin Nasser Bin Abdul Aziz expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims as he visited them and offered his condolences.
He also visited the employee who survived the shooting, but was still receiving treatment at a local hospital.
As people are seeking answers to pressing questions about the reasons behind the unprecedented mass killing in an education office, the mystery remained deep despite all the speculations.
A senior education official in Sabya, the district overseeing the education office, denied claims there was antagonism or tension between the killer and the victims.
"The victims fell to the random shooting and they were not personally targeted by the killer as he pointed his machine gun," the official said, quoted by Al Riyadh.
"In fact those who work in the education office did not know the killer and have never seen him before the tragedy."
