15 people, the Interior Ministry said Saturday, the latest citizen blamed in a wave of extremist violence gripping the kingdom.
The ministry said
Youssef al-Suleiman carried out the attack on the police compound in the
city of Abha, the provincial capital of Asir, just after the Islamic
State group released a still image of the man and an audio recording
purportedly from him. They identified the bomber as Abu Sinan al-Najdi
and the audio included a warning that Saudi rulers and troops "will not
enjoy peace" for taking part in the U.S.-led coalition battling the
Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
The
troops killed in Thursday's blast belonged to an elite
counter-terrorism force. The Interior Ministry on Saturday identified 11
of those killed belonging to the force, while four were Bangladeshi
workers.
Hours after Thursday's bombing, a previously unheard of
Islamic State affiliate, which calls itself Hijaz Province of the
Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack.The kingdom had for years quietly allowed thousands of Saudis to leave the country to join militant groups fighting in Iraq and Syria, until the late King Abdullah last year decreed that fighting abroad was illegal. A wave of Islamic State group attacks has hit the kingdom in recent months, many carried out by Saudi citizens.
The
last major attack against Saudi security forces was in April 2004, in
the midst of Saudi Arabia's battle against al-Qaida, when a car bombing
hit an Interior Ministry building in Riyadh, killing five people.
Source: AP
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