Bomber blows himself up as Saudis foil terror plot in Mecca

[jpak]

Source: Boston Globe

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as the fasting month of Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said it launched a raid around Jiddah on Friday, as well as two areas in Mecca itself, including the Ajyad Al-Masafi neighborhood, which is near the Grand Mosque.


In Ajyad Al-Masafi, police said they engaged in a shootout at a three-story house with a suicide bomber, who blew himself up and caused the building to collapse.

He was killed, while the blast wounded six foreigners and five members of security forces, according to the Interior Ministry’s statement. Five others were arrested, including a woman, it said.

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Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/06/24/bomber-blows-himself-saudis-foil-terror-plot-mecca/UOnrk3oaAQIjBjxzl7HLeI/story.html

[Princess Turandot]

1. Guardian article on this (as the Globe is paywalled)..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/24/saudi-security-foils-terror-plot-targeting-mecca-grand-mosque

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"...The interior ministry said in a statement it “confirms that this terrorist network, whose terrorist plan was thwarted, violated, in what they would have perpetrated, all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth.

“They obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilise the security and stability of this blessed country,” the statement said.

The ministry did not name the group involved in the attack. The ultraconservative Sunni kingdom battled an al-Qaida insurgency for years and more recently has faced attacks from a local branch of the Islamic State group..."

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[irisblue]

2. I have problems feeling sympathy for the govt. of Saudi Arabia

Empathy for the people though.