Manama: The man who wanted to blow himself up among worshippers in a mosque in the Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia had an identity card identifying him as a Pakistani expatriate, the Saudi interior ministry said.
The bomber had planned to commit the suicide attack on Tuesday during the Maghreb (sunset) prayers at the Mustafa Mosque in Um Al Hamam in the Qatif region.
However, the security men in the vicinity of the mosque spotted him and went to question him about his suspicious moves.
The bomber, realising that he had been discovered, tried to detonate the explosives he was carrying inside the sports bag he was carrying on his back, the ministry said on Wednesday afternoon.
The police fired bullets to neutralise him and to remove the bag before he could detonate it.
He was taken to hospital, but died on the way, the ministry added.
The bag was found to contain four kilogrammes of explosives.
The police, during a search of the body, found a national identity card that identified the holder as a Pakistani expatriate. However, the police said they were checking it.
The interior ministry spokesperson added that the security authorities had foiled an attempt
The servicemen manning a checkpoint in Dammam, the largest city in the Eastern Province, on August 5 evening stopped a car carrying a driver and a passenger after they noticed that the two were nervous.
The two men tried to flee, but the servicemen arrested them and searched them and inspected the car, the spokesperson added.
The police found a gun and a belt laden with seven packs of explosives weighing 7.3 kilogrammes.
Preliminary investigations identified the men as Abdullah Abdul Rahman Abdullah Al Ghunaimi, a 27-year-old Saudi national, and Husain Mohammad Ali Mohammad, a 24-year-old Syrian national.
The two men had been recruited by Daesh to carry out a terrorist attack on the Al Seef restaurant and café on the island of Tarot, a popular resort near Dammam. The attack was scheduled for 11pm on that evening.
The investigation allowed the authorities to arrest two other Syrian men, the spokesperson added.
