Blast rocks Saudi

An Islamic State group suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia yesterday, killing 21 and wounding 81 people in an assault that threatens to fan sectarian tensions.

The bomber struck during the main weekly prayers in Eastern Province, where assailants linked to the Sunni extremist IS killed seven members of the minority Shia community in November.

The interior ministry said a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the mosque in Kudeih, in the Shia-majority city of Qatif, the official SPA news agency reported.

“An individual detonated a bomb he was wearing under his clothes during Friday prayers at Ali Ibn Abi Taleb mosque in Kudeih in Qatif,” the ministry spokesman said in a statement. The health ministry was quoted by SPA saying that 21 people were killed and 81 wounded, including 12 in critical condition. 

In a statement published online, IS said it was behind the attack. It named the bomber as Abu Amer Al Najdi, and included a picture of him.

The statement -- the first time the group had officially claimed an attack in Saudi Arabia -- said “the soldiers of the Caliphate” were behind the attack by a suicide bomber “who detonated an explosives belt” in the mosque. It also pledged “dark days ahead” for Shias until militants “chase them from the Arabian Peninsula”.