Two young volunteers termed ‘heroes’ after foiling suicide bombing attempt on Saudi mosque

The suicide bomber was stopped by volunteers when he tried to enter the women's section of the mosque

After a suicide attack on Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia was foiled, the two young volunteer security guards were hailed as heroes for stopping the bomber.

Friends Mohammed Hassan Ali bin Isa and Abdul-Jalil al-Arbash were killed after reportedly turning the bomber away from the Imam Hussein mosque in Dammam on Friday.

According to the eye witness accounts, the attacker, disguised as a woman tried to enter into the mosque through a closed female entrance before going to the main gate, where the pair was performing the duty.

Terming the young lads as “heroes”, a local man wishing not to be named said,“They saved a lot of lives by stopping the bomber from getting inside the mosque.”

لحظة التفجير الارهابي الذي استهدف مسجد العنود في الدمام ..#تفجير_العنود pic.twitter.com/Em9kbyuwZe

— mohammad boland (@mohadboland) May 29, 2015

Another eye witness Mohammed Idris claimed that the volunteers chased away the attacker and died when he detonated the bomb in the mosque car park.

“They chased the suicide bomber when he tried to enter the women's section of the mosque in the south entrance,” he added.

After the May 22 suicide attack on a Shia mosque, which left at least 20 people dead in eastern Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s religious authorities have asked women to keep away from mosques during Friday prayers because of fears of a repeat attack and the lack of female security staff able to search them.

The advice possibly led to the closure of the entrance that the bomber initially tried to use in Dammam.

Abdul-Jalil, 25, got married just two years ago and had returned from US after completing his studies.

One of the men’s mothers, Kowther al-Arbash, is a high-profile writer for Saudi newspaper al-Jazira, Middle East Eye reported.

However, the eye witness accounts was in direct contradiction to the official stance as Saudi authorities claimed that the attack was foiled by the security forces.

The article originally appeared on The Independent