More Sunni vs. Shiite mayhem and murder promised.
Islamic State group radio claims Saudi mosque suicide attack; promise more ‘black days’ for Shiites
CAIRO – The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia, warning that more “black days” loom ahead in a direct challenge to the rulers of the Sunni kingdom.
Friday’s attack was the kingdom’s deadliest militant assault since a 2004 Al Qaeda attack on foreign worker compounds, which sparked a massive Saudi security force crackdown.
However, this Islamic State attack in the village of al-Qudeeh in the eastern Qatif region targeted Shiites, whom ultraconservatives in Saudi Arabia regularly denounce as heretics.
The statement on the Islamic State group’s al-Bayan radio station, read aloud Friday night and posted 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 station also identified the attack as being carried out by a new Islamic State branch in “Najd Province,” referring to the historic region of the central Arabian Peninsula home to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.