Damage inside a mosque used by members of a local security force, where a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people in an attack on Thursday, is pictured in Abha, southwest Saudi Arabia, on August 6, 2015. (Reuters/Saudi Press Agency/HO)
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi authorities on Saturday identified the suicide bomber who carried out Thursday’s attack on a mosque in the country’s southwestern region as 21-year-old Saudi citizen Youssef Bin Suleiman Abdullah Al-Suleiman.
The Interior Ministry said Suleiman was previously held by authorities for a period of 45 days in 2013 on suspicion of belonging to a “deviant faction,” a term Saudi authorities use to refer to extremist groups.
“The suicide bomber Suleiman was detained around two years ago but he was released due to lack of evidence. He has not previously left Saudi Arabia,” Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Wearing an explosive belt, Suleiman detonated himself at the mosque in the city of Abha during noon prayers on Thursday. A total of 15 people including 12 security personnel were killed and 33 injured.
Turki said the attack “did not respect the sanctity of the [mosque] nor the lives of the [worshippers]” and showed “the extent of the wickedness, criminality, and deviousness of this ideology.”
The mosque was mainly used by Saudi Special Emergency Forces.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) quickly claimed responsibility for the attack and said it would continue to target Saudi Arabia and its security forces due to their participation in the US-led coalition targeting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Turki said: “These despicable acts will only increase the determination of the security forces and the honorable sons of the nation to counter this deviant ideology and those who support it, and to defend with every breath the honor of religion and the security of this blessed country and its people.”
Saudi security forces announced last month they had foiled a number of ISIS terror plots in a major security operation that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of people suspected of belonging to the extremist group and carrying out a number of attacks in the Kingdom as well as planning future operations.
ISIS has launched several attacks in the Kingdom over the past months, including a suicide bombing in May at the Ali Ibn Abi Talib Mosque in the eastern Qatif province, which killed at least 21 worshippers and injured 97.