Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 23-06-2017
The Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry has announced that a terror plot to attack the Grand Mosque in Makkah, Saudi Arabia has been foiled by security forces.
The foiled attack which targeted worshippers in the Grand Mosque comes just days before the end of the blessed month of Ramadan as millions of people from across the world converged on the holy city.
In a statement on state television, spokesperson of the Saudi Interior Ministry, Mansour al-Turki says the attack was planned by three terror groups, two based in Makkah and the other in Jeddah.
“The security forces have acted against the terrorists in Mecca’s Assila district and Ajyad al-Masafi neighborhood.”
Al-Turki says the trapped would-be suicide bomber exchanged fire with the security forces then set off explosives when he was surrounded in a house in the central Makkah neighborhood of Ajyad-al-Masafi near the Grand Mosque that had been used as the base of the attack.
“The perpetrator then blew himself up and the building collapsed wounding six civilians and lightly injuring five members of the security forces.”
Al-Turki adds that five arrests were made as part of the case, with a woman being among the detainees.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the plot to attack the mosque, but ISIS had in the past carried out attacks in the Kingdom.
Earlier on Friday, Saudi security forces shot dead an alleged militant and arrested several of his accomplices in the al-Aseelah neighborhood of Makkah.
The suspect was killed in an exchange of fire with the officers, none of whom were reportedly harmed in the incident.
In May last year, Saudi security forces shot dead two alleged ISIS fighters outside Makkah, while two others blew themselves up outside the holy city.
– Reuters
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