Local Editor

Saudi Arabia: Dammam attack

New evidences were revealed on Monday about the terrorist suicide bombing that went off in Dammam city, east of Saudi Arabia last Friday, and killed four people, the Saudi Al-Hayat newspaper reported.

The daily said that the footages of the cameras installed in the area "revealed that the terrorist was dressed in women’s clothing and tried to storm the mosque after being discovered by the young men in charge of the inspection at the gate of the mosque."

"The four martyrs prevented the terrorist, and threw him to the ground and grabbed him. However, he detonated the explosive belt that was strapped to his body at the moment, before the arrival of the security forces who were summoned by a fifth young man to arrest the terrorist," the Al-Hayat stated.

"They were five young men standing at the southern gate of the mosque of Imam Hussein. They were guarding the entrance to the outer wall, which is the corridor to the parking. Suddenly, a woman came out, who was in fact a terrorist disguised in a women's cloak," Bassem al-Ithan, an eye-witness and a Dammam resident told the newspaper.

"He came out from between the cars on his way to the mosque. The young men prevented him, and they said that there is no prayer for women here under the order of the main cleric of the mosque, Sheikh Ali Al-Nasser, who announced two nights before that Friday prayers are banned for women," he went on to say.

"They prevented him from entering. He started to hesitate whether to go backward or forward. The men were skeptical about this woman who did not respond and did not utter a word. They tried to warn "her," but he unmasked himself and attacked the young people, trying to enter by force," Ithan said.

"Martyr Abdul Jalil held him from behind and pushed him out of the gate, while his brother martyr Mohammad grabbed him from the front. Besides the two there were martyr Hadi al-Hashim and martyr Mohammad Issa, who pushed him to the parking lots, while the fifth young rushed to the security forces who were nearby, and started to shout "a terrorist is here."

"On his way back, he heard the sound of the explosion which claimed the four young men, and killed the terrorist. The flesh scattered on the walls of the mosque and reached the neighboring homes. After that, the security forces started to arrive in the place, as well as the Civil Defense to extinguish the fires that broke out in cars."

A suicide bomber - disguised in women’s clothing - blew himself up in the parking lot of a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia's Eastern city of Dammam.

A member of the Popular Committees (PC) - formed of residents and are charged of defending the mosque and guarding the worshippers - suspected the terrorist and informed the Saudi security forces deployed there, yet he didn't receive an answer. Then, he immediately rushed to catch the bomber who was hurry to detonate himself several meters away from the place, killing four people including himself.

The blast also set several cars ablaze.