New York/Riyadh: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council have strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Friday that killed 21 people in a mosque in the town of Al Qudeeh in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
“The attack caused many deaths and injuries as people were gathering for Friday prayers,” a statement from Ban’s spokesman’s office confirmed. “The Secretary-General stresses that such attacks on places of worship are abhorrent and intended to promote sectarian conflict. He hopes that the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice,” the statement added.
The mosque attack killed at least 21 people and wounded 81, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, warning that more “black days” loom ahead. Friday’s attack was the kingdom’s deadliest militant assault since a 2004 Al Qaida attack on foreign worker compounds, which sparked a massive Saudi security force crackdown.
The statement on Daesh’s Al Bayan radio station, read aloud on Friday night and posted on Saturday morning to militant websites associated with the extremists, identified the suicide bomber as a Saudi citizen with the nom de guerre Abu Amer Al Najdi.
The UN Secretary-General extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and expressed his sympathies to the Government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In a separate statement issued early on Saturday, the Security Council also condemned the attack. The statement reiterated that “Daesh must be defeated and that the intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out.”
The Council members stressed that “rather than being intimidated by such continued acts of barbarism perpetrated by Daesh, they have stiffened their resolve that there has to be a common effort amongst Governments and institutions, including those in the region most affected, to counter Daesh, groups that have pledged allegiance to it, and all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al Qaida,” the statement said.
Saudi Arabia’s top Sunni cleric branded the attack “a bid to sow chaos.”
Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh told state Al Ekhbariya TV on Saturday: “This totally criminal plot aims to split our ranks and sow chaos in our country but, God be praised, it will not find a way. The nation and society are united and under a wise leadership.”
Shaikh Mohammad Obaidan, a top local Shiite cleric, urged followers not to give into their anger and maintain the peace. “We’ll stand before anyone who thinks that our creed is a cause for fear or worry ... mass prayer — in a calm, orderly way with self-restraint — is the right way to respond to this corrupt force and hateful darkness,” he told worshippers.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Al Turki also told state television the kingdom was seeking to root out Daesh’s presence, especially after a gun attack on a Shiite mosque that killed five people in nearby Ahsa village in November.
The ministry said last month that it had arrested 93 suspected members of the group