Pakistani named as Medina bomber

Crowded mosque reportedly main target of attacker

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday identified the suicide bomber who struck outside one of Islam's holiest sites the day before as a Pakistani resident of the kingdom who arrived 12 years ago to work as a driver.

The bombing on Monday outside the sprawling mosque grounds where the Prophet Muhammad is buried in the western city of Medina killed four Saudi security troops and wounded five. Millions of Muslims from around the world visit the mosque every year as part of their pilgrimage to Mecca.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Medina attack or two other attacks in the kingdom on the same day - one near the US Consulate in Jeddah and the other at a Shiite mosque in the east of the country. The nature of the attacks and their apparently coordinated timing suggested the Islamic State group could be to blame.

An Interior Ministry statement issued on Tuesday identified the man as 34-year-old Abdullah Qalzar Khan. It said he lived in the nearby Red Sea port city of Jeddah with "his wife and her parents". The statement didn't elaborate.

There are around 9 million foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a total population of 30 million. Among all foreigners living in the kingdom, Pakistanis represent one of the largest groups.

The Saudi ministry said the attacker set off the bomb in a parking lot after security officers raised suspicions about him. Several cars caught fire and thick plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the site of the explosion as thousands of worshippers crowded the streets around the mosque.

Not Islam

Worshippers expressed shock that such a prominent holy site could be targeted.

"That's not an act that represents Islam," said Altayeb Osama, a 25-year old Sudanese visitor to Medina and resident of Abu Dhabi who heard two large booms about a minute apart as he was heading toward the mosque for sunset prayers Monday. "People never imagined that this could happen here."

The Prophet Muhammad's mosque was packed on Monday evening with worshippers during the final days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in the kingdom on Tuesday. Local media say the attacker was intending to strike the mosque when it was crowded with thousands of worshippers gathered for the sunset prayer.

Qari Ziyaad Patel, 36, from Johannesburg, South Africa, was at the mosque when he heard a blast just as people were breaking their fast with dates. Many at first thought it was the sound of traditional, celebratory cannon fire, he said.

"I actually felt the ground shake," he said. "The vibrations were very strong. ... It sounded like a building imploded."

State-run news channel al-Ekhbariya aired live video of the mosque filled with worshippers praying hours after the explosion.

Iran condemned the attacks, saying on Tuesday it was time the countries set aside their differences to confront Islamist militants.

"There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

(China Daily 07/06/2016 page12)