Target shia mosque Non-fatal injuries 9 Total number of deaths 7 (+2 attackers) | Weapons Guns Date 3 November 2014 Attack type Mass murder | |
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Perpetrators Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Perpetrator Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Locations Al Dalwah, Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia People also search for Qatif and Dammam mosque bombings | ||
The 2014 al-Dalwah attack occurred on 3 November 2014 at al-Dalwah village in the eastern province of al-Ahsa, when three unknown masked gunmen shot at a group of people killing at least seven and injuring dozens. The attack occurred on Ashura and is thought to be targeting Shi’ite Muslims. Six people have since been arrested and one suspect has been killed.
On 4 November at least 2 police and two gunmen were killed in operation after 5 people were shot dead and another wounded. According to Saudi security, the leader of the gunmen had previously slipped back into the kingdom after fighting in Iraq and Syria.
While the government and the official media and religious establishment strongly condemned the attack, a handful of articles in the Saudi press argued that the attack "had not come out of nowhere", that there was anti-Shi'ite incitement in the kingdom on the part of "the religious establishment, preachers, and even university lecturers – and that it was on the rise".
Details
On 24 November, 21 days after the attack, the Saudi Interior Ministry revealed the identity of the attackers on the Al dalwah Shiite shrine in Al-Ahsa: Abdullah Al-Sarhan, Khalid Anzi, Marwan Nail, and Tariq Maimoni. Saudi security authorities have arrested 77 people linked to ISIS.