May 29, 2015
Saudi security forces and forensic personnel inspect the suicide bombing site on May 29, 2015
A cousin of a victim prays at the site of a suicide bombing that targeted Al-Anoud Mosque in Dammam on Friday.
Saudi men check the body of a man killed after a car exploded near a Shi'ite mosque in Saudi Arabia
Video: Suicide bomber launches attack 'as imam was decrying terror'
Bomber was dressed as a woman, say worshippers at Dammam mosque
The prayer leader at the Imam Hussain mosque in the Al Anood district of the Saudi city of Dammam was condemning last Friday’s attack on another Saudi mosque when a loud explosion was heard, a worshipper at the mosque said.
“During his Friday sermon," a worshipper who asked to be identified as Maitham told
Gulf News over the phone from Dammam, the imam was
questioning how a person can blow himself up at a mosque full of worshippers when we heard a loud scream from one of the doors of the mosque. Five seconds after the door opened, we heard a loud explosion and smoke started entering the mosque."
Maitham said he was praying close to the gate overlooking the parking lot where the explosion took place.
The imam was discussing the attack on a Shiite mosque in the town of Qadeeh in the Eastern Province last Friday that killed 22 people.
The attacks shook Saudi Arabia, leading to widespread condemnation and a pledge by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Daesh claims attack
The attack was claimed by the Daesh terror group, as was the
attack on May 22.
In amateur video footage of the sermon, the imam can be heard talking about the Qadeeh attack, following which an explosion can be heard from the left side of the mosque.
Maitham said that panic ensued in the mosque and people rushed outside to see what had happened. The imam then cancelled the sermon and called for calm.
“When I went to see what was happening I saw a small child and there was so much blood on his clothes, as if someone had spilt red ink on him. He was probably close to the site of the bomber”.
Ali Jaafar, another eyewitness, said that the explosion set several cars on fire.
“It was big and loud,” he said, adding, “the whole thing was very disturbing.”
A third witness, who did not want to be named because of security concerns, said he saw the remains of the victim in the parking lot.
Maitham said that there was tension about Friday prayers in Shiite mosques after last week’s attack, but added that there was a heavy security presence around the mosque. The Imam Hussain mosque in Dammam is one of the city’s biggest Shiite mosques.
Worshippers worried
“After last week’s attack, I had already been worried about going to today’s prayers,” said Maitham. “Friday prayers will never be the same”.
Maitham said that the mosque authorities had announced earlier the closure of the area surrounding the mosque as well as the section dedicated for female worshippers.
The Saudi ministry of interior has said that the suicide bomber was a man disguised as a woman.
A spokesperson for the interior ministry said that the security authorities succeeded to foil the attempt by the bomber to blow himself up inside Al Anood Mosque where he would have killed several worshippers congregating for the Friday prayers.
“Security policemen had suspicions when they saw a car heading towards the car park near the mosque,” the spokesperson said, quoted by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). “When the security men went towards the driver, the car exploded killing four people, including the driver. Several cars were damaged in the explosion,” the spokesperson said.
Maitham said that eyewitnesses saw someone dressed as a veiled woman approaching the men’s entrance to the mosque. “She did not approach the women’s entrance, which was closed anyway, and that is what led to suspicion”.
Video: Suicide bomber launches attack 'as imam was decrying terror' | GulfNews.com
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May 30, 2015
A selfie taken by Abdul Jaleel Al Arbash (right) and his cousin Mohammad Al Eisa reportedly minutes before the terror blast. Residents paid tribute to them for their courage and bravery for protecting their country and brothers from a deadly act of terrorism.
Rich tributes paid to fallen mosque heroes
One of the victims came from US to get engaged
Tributes have poured in for Saudi civilians who died as they were about to confront the suicide bomber who blew himself up near a mosque in Saudi Arabia.
The bomber reportedly got off a car wearing an abaya, the black coverall traditionally worn by women in the Arabian Gulf states, and was heading towards Imam Hussain mosque in the Al Anood district of Dammam, the largest city in the Eastern Province, when security men and two civilians approached him.
He, however, opted to detonate the explosives he was concealing under the loose abaya, killing himself and three other people, including the two civilians, Abdul Jaleel Al Arbash and his cousin Mohammad Al Eisa.
A selfie taken by the two cousins reportedly minutes before the terror blast went viral on the internet as online users paid tribute to them for their courage and bravery and praised them from protecting their country and brothers from a deadly act of terrorism.
Abdul Jaleel’s mother, prominent columnist Kawthar Al Arbash, was reeling under the shock, but she nevertheless publicly saluted her son’s brave act.
“He made me cry, but he spared hundreds of mothers from the agony of crying over their sons,” she posted on her Twitter account.
According to reports, less than one day before the blast that killed her son and her nephew, Kawthar said that mutual acceptance was crucial to overcome extremism.
“We need to acknowledge the other and to believe in his right to exist and in his right to participate,” she said, referring to religious sects. “In a country where ideological, intellectual and regional pluralism has recently emerged, we need to feel for the others so that we can all live together,” Kawthar said.
Reports said that Abdul Jaleel, a student in electrical engineering at Wichita State University in the US, got engaged a few days before he lost his life in the blast.
His university paid homage to the student who had just passed away.
“The Wichita State University community is saddened by the tragic death of one of our students,” the university said.
“I am not surprised that Abdul Jaleel did what he had to do to save the lives of all those people by giving up his own so readily,” the university quoted Preethika Kumar, undergraduate coordinator in electrical engineering and one of Al Arbash’s professors, as saying. “In my faith, when someone is able to love God so deeply to the extent of putting their neighbour before themselves always, even to the point of laying their life down, he or she is a saint.”
Kumar said she got to know Al Arbash well in the past semester while he was enrolled in one of her courses. She recalled he was a kind person who was always happy.
Several columnists on Saturday openly condemned the suicide attack and warned that its main purpose was to divide the nation along sectarian faults and weaken the state.
Witnesses reported that the bomber initially headed towards the women’s section of the mosque, but changed his plans after he found that the door was locked, local daily Okaz reported.
A neighbour said that a headless body had fallen into their courtyard following the explosion.
“We heard the loud sound and we came out of the room,” Umm Ahmad said. “We found the body and we started screaming. My husband and son were at the mosque at the time and we are thankful to God they were not harmed in the blast. The police came and did their work. We know that the body did not belong to the terrorist since his was found at the parking lot,” she said.
Rich tributes paid to fallen mosque heroes | GulfNews.com