Rare suicide blast at Saudi mosque

A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at a Shiite mosque in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia yesterday, killing and wounding several people in an assault that threatens to fan sectarian tensions.

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.

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"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.

He did not give a specific casualty toll, only that several people were killed and wounded.

A hospital official told Reuters by telephone that "around 20 people" were killed in the attack and more than 50 were under treatment at the hospital, some of them suffering from serious injuries. He said that a number of other people had been treated and sent home.

Shia activists and witnesses gave conflicting tolls, with one saying four worshippers were killed and others speaking of 22 dead.

The Islamic State (IS) militants claimed responsibility for the bombing, BBC reported. This is the first bomb attack to target Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia since November when gunmen killed at least eight people in an attack on a Shia religious anniversary celebration.

News websites in eastern Saudi Arabia posted photographs of bodies lying in pools of blood.

Qatif hospital issued an urgent call for blood donations and called in off-duty staff to cope with the high number of casualties, the activist said.

First reports by witnesses said the suicide bomber appeared to be from Pakistan, but others said he was wearing traditional Afghan clothing.

Naseema Assada, a resident of Qatif, said worshippers were celebrating the birth of revered Shia Imam Hussein when the blast occurred.

"The people are very angry," she said, adding that they tried to stop police from entering Kudeih.

Residents had feared such an attack was coming, she said, because the government was failing to curb hate speech on social media against the Shia community which complains of marginalisation.

The mufti of Saudi Arabia, the highest-ranking Sunni cleric, denounced the attack.

"It is a criminal act aimed at dividing the sons of the nation... and at sowing trouble in our country," he said on state television.

The attack comes as a Saudi-led coalition has since March 26 been bombing Shia rebels in Yemen who have overrun much of the country and forced the government to flee abroad.

Analysts said radical Sunnis in the ultra-conservative kingdom consider Saudi Shias to be allies of the Yemen Huthi rebels.

"This (attack) was unfortunately only a matter of time," said Frederic Wehrey, a Gulf analyst at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The interior ministry spokesman said Saudi Arabia would "hunt down anyone involved in this terrorist crime carried out by people seeking to undermine national unity."