Burned out debris at the scene of a foiled terror attack in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 23, 2017. (EPA)
On June 23, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca after exchenging gunfire with Saudi security servicemen, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
“The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah, as well as two areas in Mecca itself, including the Ajyad Al-Masafi neighborhood, located near the Grand Mosque.
There, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-story house a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and led to the building’s collapse.He was killed while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry’s statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said.
Saudi state television aired footage after the raid Friday near the Grand Mosque, showing police and rescue personnel running through the neighborhood’s narrow streets. The blast demolished the building, its walls crushing a parked car as what appeared to be shrapnel and bullet holes peppered nearby structures,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
Interior ministry security spokesman Mansour al-Turki said that police “foiled the terrorist plan that targeted the security of the Grand Mosque, pilgrims and worshippers”.
The ministry didn’t reveal whether the militants belonged to a specific group or what their ultimate target was. However, it described the plot as part of “self-serving schemes managed from abroad”.
“This terrorist network, whose terrorist plan was thwarted, violated, in what they would have perpetrated, all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth,” the interior ministry said. “They obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilize the security and stability of this blessed country.”
Global condemnations have poured in following the foiled terror attack in Mecca. The UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait and other countries denounced the terrorist polt.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said that the attempt to attack the Grand Mosque “showed once again that the uncontrolled and growing terrorism currently gripping the whole world, the region and especially Muslim nations…, knows no religion, geography, ethnicity and nationality.”
Egypt’s Awqaf (Religious Endowments) Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa also condemned the attack. The minister added that Egypt “stands with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in their efforts against terrorism.”
Bahrain released a statement in which it “expressed its sincere appreciation of the great role of Saudi Arabia under the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in providing all the comforts and tranquility for worshippers, visitors and pilgrims.”
UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan said the event would only increase “our will” to encounter those supportertsof terrorism.
Jordanain Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammed Momani expressed the Jordanian support to Saudi Arabia in its fight against terrorism and condemnted the attempt.
Some experts believe that there is a chance that the event may be a false flag attack. If confirmed, this will contribute to a wider media and diplomatic effort of the Saudi-led block against Qatar. The goal is to further discredit Qatar.
Earlier this week, there were reprts that Saudi Arabia and Egypt consolidated their attitude on foreign policy issues.
“Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al-Qattan today held a Ramadan breakfast banquet at the Saudi Diplomatic Club for a group of Egyptian reporters.
Ambassador Qattan affirmed that the bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Republic of Egypt are at their best with the support of the two countries’ leaders under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and President Abdul Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt. The coming period will further deepen and develop these strong relations between the two countries, he added,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
A very troubled ramadan this year. Let us pray they’ll keep their wars within their own region. It seems as if islam is imploding or exploding.
The idea here is that Islam is going through what Christianity went through hundreds of years ago. Shia vs Sunni is now as on the lips of people the way ‘Catholics vs Protestants’ was before. It’s all politics that’s tainted a religion but made much more complicated now than before.
@adzsiam And that is why I have hope about the Iran – Qatari cooperation situation . Shia and Salafist , the opposites attract . Iran was the first Islamic nation in which the common people were educated , elsewhere only the top 10 – 25 % , still today . Qatar however , has no “common people” , they are all well off and educated . So two extremes , with an educated population. Beginning with their gas trade and expanding into , I hope a “Renaissance of Islam” . Something needs to supplant and replace the Wahhabi ideology , that Saudi Arabia has been exporting for the last thirty years . The Qatari’s don’t have any future if they stay with their fellow Sunni’s .
Israeli???
^ This
A three-story building collapses because of an explosion of a suicide vest ??? Controlled environment , witnesses . Maybe the case of a false flag operation ought to be considered carefully.
The suspicion is there for a false flag scenario considering Saudi Security forces are not that good . The three story House collapsing from a security vest is unlikely and the vitriol being spewed seems to be directed more at a Qatar possibility . This might be them taking out any of those supporters of the former Crown Prince who could possibly stage a coup , this sounds more of a bomb was placed in the building and blowing up those inside was a warning message.
Whats the betting that the Saudi’s find a pristine QATARI passport in the debris :)
While nothing the cabal does (or would do)would surprise me, I doubt that would fly. That might actually backfire on them…but who knows what these idiots are capable of.
There have always been Elite’s throughout history who believe they can be the ones to finally rule the world. It has ended badly for all of them but the periods leading up to their demise have always been soaked in the blood of innocents. Most Americans today think that people across the globe love and respect them, whereas in the real world most people detest all America stands for and consider most Americans to be buffoons and braggarts .
possible false flag to blame other country as a pretetxt to launch new war or Holy War
“…The coming period will further deepen and develop these strong relations between the two countries, he added,” the Saudi Press Agency reported…”
Translation: Egypt is going to need more… a LOT more… of your US clownbucks to stay solvent, Saudi Arabia. Keep them coming if you want us to be your friend.
Are there more islands to sell to the Saudis???
No doubt there will be ‘links’ made between this ‘terrorist’ attack with Qatar and Iran.
In all fairness, Western leaders also seldom rush to fess up “yup these were the guys who we’ve trained and armed knowing full well what they’re capable of, and whom we were tracking just for that reason, but sadly this morning our James Bond had to take a bathroom break”. And none of the local reactions are as gauche as what Trump pulled off after the Tehran bombing.