Saudi Interior Ministry names Qatif, Medina bombers; suspects arrested

Medina bomber identified and 19 suspects detained over suicide bombings.

Muslim worshippers gather after a suicide bomber detonated a device near the security headquarters of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, July 4, 2016. Reuters.

DOHA // Saudi authorities have identified the suicide bomber who attacked Prophet Mohammed’s Mosque in Medina on Monday as a 26-year-old citizen with a history of drug abuse.

Twelve Pakistanis and seven Saudis have been detained in relation to string of suicide bombings on the same day, the interior ministry said.

Naer Muslim Hamad crossed a car park next to the Prophet’s mosque and detonated an explosive belt near a security headquarters, killing four soldiers, the state news agency SPA quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

“When security guards intercepted him he blew himself up,” the spokesman said.

Suicide bombers hit three Saudi cities on Monday in apparently coordinated attacks that targeted Prophet’s mosque in Medina, the US consulate in Jeddah and Shiite worshippers in Qatif, jolting the kingdom as people prepared to break their fast on the penultimate day of the holy month of Ramadan.

An interior ministry spokesman told Al Ikhbariya TV that the Medina bomber had travelled outside the country several times, including this year. He said nitroglycerine from the blasts in Qatif and Medina seemed to match those found at the Jeddah attack, suggesting they may have been coordinated.

The ministry said the Qatif attack was carried out by three “terrorists” including a man named as Abderrahman Saleh Mohammed Al Amr, 23, who it said was known to the security services for taking part in protests.

The Jeddah attacker was a Pakistani man identified as Abdullah Qalzar Khan, a driver who had been living in the city for 12 years, the ministry said earlier.

The United Nations human rights chief described the bombing outside in Medina as “an attack on Islam itself”.

Militant attacks on Medina are unprecedented. The Prophet Mohammed’s mosque, which was built by him in the 7th century and also houses his tomb, is the second most sacred site in Islam.

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks but ISIL militants have carried out similar bombings in the Saudi Arabia in the past year, targeting minority Shiites and security forces. The extremist group has said its intention is to topple the kingdom’s Al Saud ruling family.

The attacks highlighted how young Saudi men are being drawn to ISIL, which has launched attacks on Shiites in smaller Gulf Arab states and stepped up violence during the holy month of Ramadan.

King Salman, in a speech on Tuesday marking Eid Al Fitr, said a major challenge facing Saudi Arabia was preserving hope for youth who faced the risk of radicalisation.

He said his country would strike with an “iron hand” against people who preyed on youth vulnerable to religious extremism.

Saudi security officials have said ISIL supporters inside the kingdom mainly act independently of the group in Iraq and Syria, its main areas of operation.

* Reuters with additional reporting from Agence France-Presse