Manama: Saudi Arabia says it has arrested 34 people, including four foreigners, in connection with the suicide bombing at the Special Forces Unit mosque in Abha.
The blast, perpetrated by a 21-year-old Saudi national, on August 6 killed 15 worshippers performing Dhuhr prayers at the mosque. The casualty toll included 12 Saudi men and three Bangladeshi workers.
The suspects were arrested on August 6, 7, 8 and 9, reports in Saudi Arabia said.
Saudi Arabia has vowed a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of terrorism and any attempt to “undermine the country’s security and to sow divisions alongside sectarian faults.”
According to reports, Saudi security has thus far arrested 4,453 terrorism suspects, including 3,743 Saudi nationals.
The mosque attack in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia was the third blast to hit the country since May 22 when a suicide bomber killed 22 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in the Eastern Province.
A second bomber, wearing a woman’s abaya (black coverall) blew himself up just outside a Shiite mosque in Dammam, the main city in the Eastern Province, killing four people who approached him after they became suspicious of his presence in the area.
The blast in Abha on Thursday was the first deadly attack on a Sunni mosque in Saudi Arabia.
The three attacks were claimed by the terror group Daesh.
Another attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait in June and in which 27 worshippers were killed was also claimed by Daesh.
