One killed as Saudi mosque hit by suicide bombing

A suicide bomber killed one worshipper and wounded others on Monday at a mosque in Saudi Arabia's southern Najran city bordering Yemen, the interior ministry said.

The attack occurred just after Maghrib early evening prayers at the Al-Mashad mosque in Najran's Dahza neighbourhood, the ministry said in a statement.

"As worshippers were leaving the mosque, a person wearing a suicide belt entered and blew himself up amongst them," it said, describing the incident as "a terrorist crime".

The wounded were taken to hospital, the ministry said without giving a number.

Al-Ekhbariya Saudi news channel earlier reported that, in addition to one person killed, 12 people were wounded, as was the suspect.

Neither the ministry nor the television specified whether the mosque belonged to the kingdom's Sunni majority or the Shia minority.

But activists said the mosque is frequented by the Ismaili Shia community, amid reports that the attack was carried by a group linked to Islamic State (IS).

Most of Saudi Arabia's Shias live in Eastern Province, where they have been targeted four times in the past year by bombings and shootings linked IS militants.

The latest attack in the east occurred on 16 October when a gunman fired on Shias commemorating Ashura in the Qatif area, before police shot him dead.

Ashura is one of the holiest occasions for the Shia branch of Islam.

In June, four Shias died preventing a suicide bomber from entering the hall of Al-Anoud mosque in Dammam city.

Days earlier, 21 people were killed in another Shia mosque bombing in Eastern Province.

Groups claiming affiliation with IS said they carried out the earlier blasts and the Ashura shooting.

Najran is also on the frontline of a Saudi-led coalition war against Zaidi Shia Houthi militiamen in Yemen.

Shells fired from Yemen have landed in Najran, and Saudi troops on the border have skirmished with the militiamen since the coalition in March began air strikes against the Houthis.

Saudi Arabia's southern region also saw a suicide bombing in August. Fifteen people died at a mosque frequented by members of a police special weapons and tactics unit in Abha city. IS also claimed that blast.