MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The suicide bomber who carried out a deadly attack on a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, killing over 20 people, has been identified as a Saudi national linked to ISIL radicals, the country's interior ministry announced in a statement.
"His name was Salih bin Abdulrahman Salih Al Ghishaami, a Saudi national. He was wanted by security services for belonging to a terrorist cell receiving directions from Daesh [ISIL] abroad," the Saturday statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said.
According to the Saudi interior ministry, the cell was discovered last month and all of its 26 members, arrested by the authorities, have been identified as Saudi nationals.
Immediately after the explosion, Qadeeh's residents organized a spontaneous protest, blaming the Saudi authorities for the failure to ensure the security in the Saudi Eastern Province, populated by the country's Shiite minority.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), is a radical Sunni group that operates mainly in Iraq and Syria where it has captured vast areas, forcing thousands of people, particularly religious minorities, to flee.
Sunni and Shia are two branches of Islam, with Sunnis being the majority in most Muslim communities.
