Dubai: The Daesh suicide bomber who carried out an attack on a Shiite mosque in the Saudi city of Najran on Monday threatened Shiites and Saudi soldiers, according to a posthumous audio message purportedly by the attacker.
Najran, close to the Yemeni border, is the historic centre of the Ismailis, a Shiite sect which has long complained of victimisation.
The three-minute message, which showed a picture of a man with his face covered, circulated on Daesh-affiliated Twitter accounts on Tuesday. Its authenticity could not be immediately verified.
“My first message is a threat to the rejectionist Ismailis... you will not enjoy life in the Peninsula,” the man, identified as Abu Ishaq Al Hijazi, said, referring to the Arabian Peninsula.
“My second message, to the soldiers of the tyrant who protect the polytheists and their temples in (Saudi Arabia)... you will not be safe in your homes or your offices and we’ll target you as long as the planes of your guardian hit Muslims with Crusader planes in Iraq and Syria.” Saudi Arabia is part of a US-led coalition against Daesh militants that has carried out a campaign of air strikes against the militants, who have seized parts of Syria and Iraq.
The group is bitterly opposed to Gulf Arab rulers and is seen as trying to stir up sectarian confrontation on the Arabian Peninsula to bring about the overthrow of governments.
Monday’s suicide bombing, which Daesh said had targeted the “rejectionist Ismailis”, killed one man and wounded several others.
Saudi Arabia has been hit by a spate of deadly shooting and bomb attacks in the last few months, many of them laid at the door of Daesh, which has urged young Saudi Sunnis to attack targets including Shiites.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia identified the attacker saying one of its citizens carried out the suicide bombing.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Al Turki identified the bomber on Tuesday as 34-year-old Saad Saeed Saad Al Harthi.
The Israeli-run SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online, says a Daesh affiliate known as “Hijaz Province” claimed it carried out the attack.
It was the fourth bombing targeting Saudi mosques and claimed by Daesh affiliates since May.
