Bomber strikes Saudi mosque used by special forces, 13 killed

A suicide bomber struck a mosque used by Interior Ministry special forces in the southwestern city of Abha on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, the ministry said.

The statement identified the bomber as Abu Sinan al-Najdi and said the jihadist infiltrated the special forces headquarters in Abha and activated his explosives vest, killing and wounding dozens.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a May explosion at a Shia mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia during Friday prayers that killed 20 people.

Saudi state channel Al-Ikhbaria quoted an interior ministry official saying that the initial findings suggest that the suicide bomber carried out the attack during noon prayers.

On successive Fridays in May, suicide bombings at mosques of the minority Shi’ite community in Eastern Province killed a total of 25 people.

The Islamic State local branch made on the claim in a statement distributed on social media and pledged more attacks on the Arabian Peninsula.

It was too early to say who may have carried out the attack, an interior ministry spokesman told Agence France-Presse.

Saudi Arabia’s risky gamble to break the U.S. shale oil (fracking) industry has not only failed, but sent the Saudis and OPEC into a downward spiral that will “be in existential crisis by the end of the decade”, a UK analyst said.

The Telegraph reports that of those killed, ten were the members of the force, most of other victims were the workers in the compound.

In April, they announced the arrest of more than 90 suspects.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman, Maj.

The remains of a suicide belt were reportedly found at the scene.

“They will take (this) threat very, very seriously and take their training very, very seriously”, he said.

The Asir region, where Thursday’s attack happened, includes a small portion of the kingdom’s border with Yemen.

Abha is near Khamis Mushait, home to a military base used in the Saudi-led coalition “Operation Restoring Hope” against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.