Security forces arrested 19 suspects in connection with the suicide attacks carried out in Madinah, Qatif and Jeddah on Monday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Thursday. They included 7 Saudis and 12 Pakistanis.

According to the investigation carried out by the security agencies, the terrorist who blew himself up near the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah was identified as Naer Musallam Hammad Al-Nujaidi Al-Bluwi, a 26-year-old Saudi national. The security agencies also identified terrorists who were involved in the attack on a mosque in Qatif.

The terrorists are Abdul Rahman Saleh Mohammad Al-Emer, 23, who had previously been detained for participating in illegal rallies and calling for the release of detainees held in terrorism cases.

The other two have been identified as Ibrahim Saleh Mohammed Al-Emer, 20 and Abdulkarim Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Hasni, also 20. All those terrorists were never issued national identity cards.

The samples collected from the crime scene were found to have traces of nitroglycerine, a highly explosive material similar to one used in Jeddah blast.

The Interior Ministry said investigations are underway and more details would be announced soon.

The suicide attacks occurred on Monday in Jeddah, Qatif and near the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah killing four policemen and injuring nine.

The bombing in Madinah took place in a parking lot between the city court and the mosque, visited by millions every year.

When security officials became suspicious of an individual who was heading to the Prophet’s Mosque they approached him resulting in him triggering his explosive belt killing four of the officers and injuring others.

Videos circulated on social media showed a car burning and at least two security officers lying on the ground and two others lay crumpled near a burning car. The bomber also died in the attack, which took place at the time of iftar. No worshipper was injured in the attack.

Earlier, in Qatif, two suicide bombers blew themselves up one after the other outside the Faraj Al-Omran Mosque. No casualties were reported.

A witness said a car bomb was detonated near the mosque, which was followed by a suicide attack just before 7 p.m.

Before that at 2:15 a.m. on Monday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the US Consulate in Jeddah.

Security officers confronted him as he moved suspiciously at a parking lot of the Dr. Soliman Fakeih Hospital. Two policemen were wounded lightly in the attack.

The bomber was named as Gulzar Khan, an expat from Pakistan, who lived in Jeddah with his wife and her parents and came to the country 12 years ago to work as a private driver.

Meanwhile, the security men who were injured in the attack that targeted the Prophet’s Mosque have said the incident will not stop them from fulfilling their national and religious duty to the nation and that they will sacrifice their lives to protect the nation from anyone who seeks to break its unity.

The officers said that the words of encouragement by Crown Prince Naif, who visited them at the King Fahd Hospital, made them even more determined to work for their country against the evil forces.

Anad Ayesh, a sergeant from Yanbu who is deployed to the Prophet’s Mosque, said the explosion was heard after the Maghreb call to prayer. He and his colleagues rushed to investigate the blast. They heard the distressed voices of people seeking help.
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[Source: Arab News]