Saudi Rulers Feel The Heat of Suicide Attack Claimed by Islamic State

NEW DELHI: The Islamic State recently claimed its first attack on Saudi Arabian soil, saying that it was behind a bombing that killed at least 10 people and injured over 70 others at a Shia mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh, in Qatif governorate.

A spokesperson for the Saudi interior ministry said the bomber detonated a suicide belt inside the mosque, causing a number of people to be "martyred or wounded.” "Security authorities will spare no effort in the pursuit of all those involved in this terrorist crime," the official said in a statement to Saudi news agency SPA.

The Islamic State, that is dominating the news again having seen recent successes in Iraq where it took control of Ramadi and in Syria where it moved into the ancient city of Palmyra, laid claim to the attack through a post on Twitter. An account associated with the group that is considered a reliable source by insiders accompanied the claim with an image of the bomber.

If true, the attack is the first attack carried out by the group in Saudi Arabia -- a country it has long targeted. The group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has in numerous video and audio recordings, called for attacks against the Saudi regime. In a video released last year, Baghdadi declared a target list for attacks in Saudi Arabia, without mentioning the country by name because it is a name derived from the ruling tribe, the al-Saud, whose authority IS does not accept. Baghdadi referred to Saudi Arabia as the “head of the snake and stronghold of disease.” The topmost position on the target list was accorded to Shias in Saudi Arabia. The leader urged supporters to “draw their swords” to fight and to kill Shiites, using the pejorative, sectarian term “rafidhah” for the sect.

At around the same time, a bombing in a small Shiite village in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Al Ahsa region in the east killed eight people was linked to the Islamic State. Authorities revealed that the leader of the attack was connected to IS militants, who received orders from abroad “specifying the target, the targeted, time of execution.” This is the first time, however, that the group has openly claimed an attack in Saudi Arabia.

The latest attack signals the aspirations of the group to expand out of Syria and Iraq. It has already established a foothold in conflict-torn Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bombing Houthi rebels. At the time of writing, the group claimed an attack on a Shia Houthi mosque in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that wounded 13 people. “Members of the caliphate in Sanaa have detonated an explosive device in a Houthi mosque in the people's district ... which lead to the death and injury of many of them ” said the Islamic State on Twitter.

Previously, the group has claimed an attack on two mosques linked to the Shiite Houthis that killed 137 and injured 350 people. The group is also active in Tunisia, where it claimed an attack on tourists at the Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 23 people.

It is also active in Libya, where in addition to a series of attacks on embassies in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, the group released a video purportedly showing the killing of up to 30 Ethiopian Christians and the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians. The videos was released by the Islamic State’s media arm and was carried out by militants who say they are associated with the Tripoli Province of Islamic State -- a Libyan group that pledged allegiance to IS last year.

The beheading followed an attack on the luxurious Corinthia hotel in central Tripoli that killed nine people three weeks earlier that was claimed by the Islamic State. The militant group have also claimed other attacks -- including a series of attacks targeting empty embassies and local security buildings in Tripoli.

However, despite these attacks, it is not clear how much influence the group holds. For one, the Islamic State has seen success by capitalizing on the Shia-Sunni conflict in Iraq and Syria, and sectarian tensions of this scale do not exist in Libya. The crisis in Libya is more directly concerned with the local power vacuum, and this context has led to many on social media wondering whether the group is really responsible for all the attacks it has claimed.

The killing of the Egyptian Christians specifically drew the ire of the Egyptians, who are in turn engaged in a fight against Islamic militants in the Sinai peninsula -- with Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (ABM), that has carried out a series of attacks on security forces in the region, having pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. “After entrusting God we decided to swear allegiance to the emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries,” the statement by the group said. The statement went on to ask Egyptians to rebel against "the tyrant," President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, declaring that “we will continue to fight the army until the day of judgment.”

Also recently, militant group Boko Haram that is based in Nigeria, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The group officially changed its name to Islamic State's West Africa Province," or ISWAP. Boko Haram -- itself a nickname for Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad" -- had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State previously, but till now, was operating under its independent name. “Our caliph, God save him, has accepted the pledge of loyalty of our brothers of Boko Haram so we congratulate Muslims and our jihadi brothers in West Africa,” Reuters quoted Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad Adnani as saying in an audio message in March.

The group is also making inroads into South Asia, with reports emerging from Pakistan and Afghanistan indicating that IS militants are active in the region. 43 Ismaili Shia Muslims were killed and 20 others injured as Jundullah “Soldiers of Allah” that swore allegiance to the Islamic State last November struck in Karachi earlier this month. Jundullah spokesperson Ahmed Marwat told Reuters ,"These killed people were Ismaili and we consider them kafir (non-Muslim). We had four attackers. In the coming days we will attack Ismailis, Shi'ites and Christians." According to some reports, a blood-stained pamphlet was found at the scene in which the Islamic State itself had claimed responsibility.

Significantly, Jundullah had claimed last November that a delegation from the Islamic State had visited Balochistan. Marwat said then that the purpose of the visit was to see how it could work to unite Pakistani militant groups. This was just after Jundullah had announced it allegiance to IS. The military offensive against the militants has proven to be a double edged sword in Pakistan. On the one hand it has weakened and splintered the militant organisations, and on the other as a result of this has led them to seek new coalitions with the Islamic State clearly cashing in on the opportunity to enter both Pakistan and Afghanistan through the two outfits of the Taliban respectively, and their offshoots.

Earlier, the provincial government of Balochistan had conveyed a confidential report to the federal government and law enforcement agencies warning of increased footprints of IS, also known by the Arabic acronym Daish, in Pakistan.

"It has been reliably learnt that Daish has offered some elements of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wai Jamat (ASWJ) to join hands in Pakistan. Daish has also formed a ten-member Strategic Planning Wing," the report from the Home and Tribal Affair Department of Balochistan had said according to the Pakistani journalists.

The attack on the Karachi bus now is the first confirmation that Jundullah is now working in allegiance with the Islamic State that is becoming active in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, the Islamic State claimed its first attack a few weeks ago, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest outside a bank in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern province of Nangahar, killing at least 34 people and injuring 125 others. The attack was claimed by a group called ISIS Wilayat Khorasan, with a statement issued naming the suicide bomber as Abu Mohammad Khorasani. A photograph purportedly of Khorasani was included, showing the attacker seated on a prayer mat, a scarf covering his face and a Kalashnikov rifle by his side. A black Islamic State flag was visible in the background.

Referring to this claim, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said: “Who claimed responsibility for the horrific attack in Nangahar today? The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the attack, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.”

These attacks indicate that the Islamic State has very much gained influence outside of its Syria and Iraq-based stronghold. This is a rare but very significant achievement for a militant group that’s expansion is usually curtailed by ideology, sects, societal differences and local opposing militias.