ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State group (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for a mosque attack in Saudi Arabia on Thursday that killed at least 15 people.
The attack in Abha, close to the border with Yemen where Riyadh is involved in a Shiite-Sunni war, was the third such bombing of a Shiite mosque for the ISIS had claimed responsibility.
Local Saudi news reports said that 12 security officers and three emergency services employees were killed at the mosque, where security forces would normally pray. The reports said the attack appeared to have been a suicide bombing.
The Arab News daily quoted Interior Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki as saying the bombing took place in the midst of afternoon prayers. Among the seven injured, one person is critical, according to local news reports.
In a statement released on Twitter and attributed to ISIS, the militants claimed the attack was on a military facility in Asir province. It made no mention of a mosque.
The attack was the third of its kind on a Shiite mosque since late May.
On May 22, a 20-year-old suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite mosque in Qatif, during Friday prayers, killing 21 people and wounding more than 100.
A week later, on May 29, another suicide bomber dressed as a woman detonated an explosives belt at another mosque, killing four people.
Tensions have been high on Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen since Saudi forces began attacking Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen.
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