(MENAFN- The Peninsula) An Islamic State jihadist killed three people yesterday when he blew himself up in a car outside a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia, the second such attack in a week.
The bombing, again coinciding with weekly Friday prayers, took place in the oil-rich Eastern Province, where most of the predominantly Sunni kingdom's Shias live.
It killed three people and wounded four, the interior ministry said.
The suicide bomber - disguised in women's clothing - detonated his device at the entrance to the mosque, said the official Saudi Press Agency, citing a ministry spokesman.
"Authorities have managed to foil a terrorist crime targeting people performing the Friday prayers at Al Anoud mosque in Dammam," the provincial capital, he said.
The bomber "detonated the explosive belt he was wearing at the mosque entrance as security officials were on their way to inspect him", he said, citing preliminary results of the investigation.
The explosion happened just as the attacker's vehicle stopped at a car park near the mosque, the spokesman said.
IS, in a statement carried by jihadist accounts on Twitter, quickly said the attack was carried out by "a soldier of the caliphate, Abu Jandal Al Jazrawi".
It said the bomber managed to "reach the target despite heavy protection" outside the mosque.
Friday's blast came exactly seven days after the jihadist group sent a suicide bomber into another Shia mosque in Eastern Province, an attack which cost 21 lives.
Activist Nassima Al Sada, who arrived at the site after yesterday's bombing, said the assailant blew himself up after security volunteers tried to prevent him from entering the ladies' section of the only Shia mosque in Dammam.
Women were not allowed to pray at the mosque this week for security reasons, Sada said.
After the May 22 attack, residents had set up security committees to search those entering mosques during prayers, witnesses said.
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