The Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL) group
has claimed in an online
statement that it carried
out a deadly suicide bomb
attack at a mosque in Saudi
Arabia's Eastern Province
of Qatif.
The statement said "the
soldiers of the Caliphate"
were behind Friday's attack
by a suicide bomber "who
detonated an explosives
belt" in the mosque in the
Shia-majority city of
Qatif.
The group identified the
bomber as Abu Amer al-
Najdi, and published a
picture of him.
Earlier on Friday, the
Saudi interior ministry
said in a statement that a
suicide bomber had set off
an explosion during weekly
prayers at a Shia mosque,
leaving at least 21 dead.
"It has been established
that an individual
detonated a bomb he was
wearing under his clothes
during Friday prayers at
Ali Ibn Abi Taleb mosque in
Kudeih in Qatif province,"
the statement, which was
carried by the official SPA
news agency, said.
The ministry spokesman
called the attack an act of
terrorism, vowing that
"Security authorities will
spare no effort in the
pursuit of all those
involved in this terrorist
crime".
Pictures posted on social
media purported to show the
devastation, with dead
bodies strewn across the
floor and shattered glass
covering the courtyard of
the mosque.
Saudi Arabia's Shia
population is mostly based
in two oasis districts of
the Eastern Province, Qatif
on the Gulf coast, and al-
Ahsa, southwest of the
provincial capital al-
Khobar.
The community accounts for
between 10 to 15 percent of
the total population.
The attack was the first to
target the Shia community
in Saudi Arabia since
November when gunmen killed
at least eight people in an
attack on a religious
anniversary celebration,
also in the east.