A suicide bomber blew himself up near the United States consulate in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah in the early hours of Monday, the interior ministry said.Video provided by AFP Newslook
A series of bombings across Saudi Arabia on Monday brought death and fear to the Sunni nation as the holy month of Ramadan edged closer to a violent conclusion across the region.
The Islamic State issued a communique before Ramadan began imploring jihadists to “make it, with God’s permission, a month of pain for infidels everywhere.” The militant group claimed responsibility for attacks in Iraq and Bangladesh and is blamed for another in Turkey that together killed hundreds in the last week. Ramadan ends this week.
Islamic State did not immediately claim responsibility for any of the Saudi blasts.
An attack Monday in the western city of Medina targeted security forces near Al-Haram al-Nabawi, a mosque built by the prophet Mohammed and one of the holiest in Islam. The attack took place during prayers and in the evening, when observing Muslims break the Ramadan fast.
The death toll was not immediately clear, but the Saudi news agency Al Arabiya and other media outlets were reporting that at least four people were killed in the blast.
Video from the scene shows smoke billowing near the mosque as a crowd watches. The mosque draws millions of visitors en route to Mecca during Ramadan.
Also Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Qatif . A car bomb also exploded nearby, but no other deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
Qatif sits on the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia's expansive Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia is dominated by Sunnis but has a substantial Shiite population in the east. Resident Nasima al-Sada told the news agency AFP that "one bomber blew himself up near the mosque" and that no bystanders were hurt.
The Qatif blasts came hours after a suicide bomber struck near the U.S. consulate in the western city of Jiddah . The Saudi Interior Ministry said the Jiddah attacker detonated his suicide vest when security guards approached him near the parking lot of a hospital. Some cars were damaged but no injuries were reported.
The U.S. consulate in Jiddah was the scene of an attack in 2004, when five employees and four gunmen were killed. The Saudi wing of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for that attack.
Islamic State's stepped-up terrorism strikes in recent weeks comes as the the group struggles on the battlefield. The militants have been losing ground in their effort to carve a Sunni caliphate ruled by sharia law from a swath of Iraq and Syria.
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