Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Yesterday, a suicide attack was committed moments before sunset in the holy city in Medina, Saudi Arabia killing four officials and injuring five in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the Prophet’s Mosque, the Saudi interior ministry said. Earlier yesterday, two Saudi cities Jeddah and Quatif suffered attacks. Pilgrims were praying before breaking their Ramadan fast.

36-year-old eyewitness Qari Ziyaad Patel told Associated Press he heard a blast just as the call to sunset prayers was ending and people were breaking their fast. At first it was widely mistaken for cannon fire traditionally signaling the end of daily fasting during Ramadan, but then they felt the vibrations through the ground.

Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported that after the explosion pilgrims offered prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque and no worshippers were injured in the suicide attacks. The Interior Ministry has identified the suicide bomber. According to them, Abdullah Waqar Khan was responsible for the attack. Waqar, they said, was born in Pakistan and had lived in Jeddah for the past twelve years.

The chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi condemned the attack and said, “Islam is innocent of these criminal acts that harvested safe lives and shed pure blood.” ^{((ar)) Arabic language: ??????? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ????????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????.} Abu Dhabi prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tweeted, “It’s time we work together to save our religion from these deadly criminal gangs. ^{((ar)) Arabic language: ??? ????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????} “

This week, three Islamic countries – Turkey, Bangladesh, and Iraq — faced terror attacks in Istanbul, Dhaka, and Baghdad.