Four dead in 'suicide bombing' at mosque in Saudi Arabia

A double attack hit a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on Friday morning, with at least four people confirmed dead by the Saudi Interior Ministry.

Friday's violence hit the Imam Ridah mosque in the village of Mahasin, 150 kms south of provincial capital al-Dammam, in a district named after state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco.

At least 18 people were also injured in the attack in the Shia-majority Eastern Province, which is home to large oil fields but is economically deprived.

An eyewitness who lives a few hundred metres from the mosque told Middle East Eye, speaking on condition of anonymity, that gunmen arrived near the mosque in three separate cars and started firing shots in the direction of a nearby police station and cars belonging to the security forces.

They then approached the mosque, but were not apprehended by security forces.

According to the witness, a suicide bomber then attempted to enter the mosque but was stopped by one of the guards, named locally as Hussain al-Badri. Badri, a volunteer guard from the local community, was reportedly killed when the suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at the gate of the mosque.

The force of the blast allowed the other attackers, armed with machine guns, to enter the mosque and begin shooting apparently at random.

"We started to pray, and then we were surprised to hear shooting," said Mohammad bin Salman al-Ahmadi, 25, who was slightly injured in the attack.

"We rushed and closed the doors. After that they shot at the door trying to break in. The suicide bomber blew himself up and the door flew open."

Power inside went out, leaving the mosque in darkness and filled with smoke as a second attacker "randomly" shot at worshippers, who tried to hide, Ahmadi said.

Footage from the scene appears to show worshippers overpowering one of the gunmen, who was later arrested by police.

Footage apparently filmed inside the mosque in the immediate aftermath showed worshippers running in panic, with at least six bodies lying prone on the floor.

"There was blood in the street," the witness, who was standing about 75 metres from the mosque, told MEE. "I don't know whose it was. The ground was littered with bullet casings."

One of the attackers was killed during the explosion, while security forces searched for an unknown number of other attackers who fled the scene, according to sources who spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity. One of the men was reportedly apprehended by locals close to the scene of the attack and detained by the police.