12 Pakistanis among 19 arrested over Saudi attacks

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks.


Afp July 09, 2016
PHOTO: REUTERS

RIYADH: Nineteen people, including 12 Pakistani nationals, have been arrested in Saudi Arabia following suicide attacks on Monday, including one near the Prophet (PBUH)’s Mosque in Madina, the Saudi interior ministry said on Thursday.

Seven people are believed to have been killed and two wounded in three separate attacks — in Madina, Qatif and Jeddah.

A 26-year-old Saudi man, Naer Moslem Hammad al Balawi, who had a “history of drug use” had been identified as the perpetrator of the Madina attack, the ministry said in a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

The Qatif attack, it added, was carried out by three ‘terrorists’, including one 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.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the interior minister, said while visiting the wounded policemen in Jeddah that the attacks would “only increase our solidarity and make us stronger”.

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks so far. However, a series of bombings and shootings claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) in Saudi Arabia since late 2014 has targeted minority Shias as well as the security forces, killing dozens.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2016.

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