Trumping terror within; Pedantic Saudi Arabia!

Trumping terror within; Pedantic Saudi Arabia!

While Muslims all over the Kingdom were breaking their fast on the 4^th of July (29^th Ramadan), a terrible sound quivered the worshippers in the Prophet’s mosque. Much to the sound of the blast was the holler around the world. A suicide bomber had blown himself in the parking lot of one of the holiest sites in Islam.

As reported by the security personals outside the mosque, the target distressingly was Masjid Al Nabawi.

Masjid Al Nabwi is one of the two holiest sites after Masjid Al Haram, where millions of worshippers are seen every year. There were approximately 2 million worshippers at the time of the blast too.

Being one of the busiest mosques in the world, Masjid Al Nabwi is the Prophet’s mosque built during his lifetime and extensions made over the years.

Four security personals have been reported to have lost their lives during the horrific blast. The martyrs were supposedly breaking their fast along with 3 other guards when a man approached them pretending he wanted to break his fast with them. Nine others are reported to have been injured.

                                                            Courtesy: Arab News

The attack took place at the time of the Maghreb prayer when Muslims were busy breaking the fast.

The area was secluded for a while after the bomb took off.

The same time, two separate suicide blasts took place in the eastern city of Qatif. Qatif has been the center of terror attacks since March 2015.

The targets in the region is said to be two Shia mosques. No casualties were reported as such.

Not only Madinah and Qatif, but Jeddah too, where a vacillating man was seen around the U.S Consulate in the morning of the same day and as the security guards approached the suspicious man, he triggered off the bomb.

Saudi Arabia was indeed in a lugubrious state on the day. 3 blasts not only shook the country but also the entire world.

“It’s time we work together to save our religion from these deadly criminal gangs” tweeted Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince, Abu Dhabi.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javed Zarif also posted on his twitter handle condemning the attack saying “There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one”

           Courtesy: Arab News

Terrorism in Saudi Arabia can be dated back to 2 decades when somewhere in 1995 attacks on westerners in the Kingdom started taking place.

Since then, the Saudi authorities have been fearlessly and staunchly fighting terrorism.

This can be seen recently too, where 19 suspects have been arrested in Jeddah with connections to the triple blasts that shook the country on 4^th of July. 7 Saudis and 12 Pakistanis are reported to have been the ones who were allegedly involved in the planning and plotting of the Madinah, Jeddah and Qatif blasts.

The one who blew himself outside the Prophets mosque, as per the investigating agencies was Nae Musallam Hammad Al Nujaidi Al Bluwi, a young Saudi national in his twenties.

The authorities have paced up their investigations to the blasts and have found out that one of the involved in the Qatif twin blasts was Abdul Rahman Saleh Mohammad Al-Emer, 23 year old who has had a past of holding illegal rallies in the peaceful Kingdom and had notorious wants like that of releasing a number of accused criminals held in terrorism charges.

Ibrahim Saleh Mohammed Al Emer and Abdulkarim Ibrahim Mohammed Al Hasni, both 20, were also involved in the Shia mosques blast in the eastern region earlier this month.

As per reports, the above two were never issued identity cards.

Interior ministry has paced up to uncover all the evil faces in the Kingdom and made sure the serenity of the Islamic Kingdom is not effected.

Interior ministry has given out the information that the material used in the blast is similar to that of the one used outside the US Consulate, Jeddah, nitroglycerine, a high explosive material.

Terrorists have been targeting the blissed country with their iniquitous motives since a while now.

Dating years ago, on 17^th November, 2000, a car bomb killed a British national Christopher Rodway and injured his wife Jane in Riyadh. The bomb went off at the junction of Olaya/Oruba road. It was said to have been placed under the vehicle and triggered as it approached the signal. Within the next 5 days, another bomb went off, also placed in the car. All targeting British nationals in the Kingdom.

Next year in 2001, a small explosion took place outside the Euromarche supermarket in the Saudi capital. A place known for serving British daily needs. No casualties were reported though.

British and American nationals often termed as whites were the main targets just after U.S had declared war against Afghanistan in October 2001.

Same year in May, an American doctor Gary Hatch received injuries to his face and hands after receiving a ‘parcel’ bomb in his office.

Some other popular white targets were Halliburton from Duncan, Oklahoma, Michael Jerrald Martin, Keith Maples and Robert Dent.

After the U.S strikes on Iraq against its war on weapons of mass destruction in 2003, many whites were made the target again.

They were targeted at houses, streets and even at offices. Saudi officials and the investigative agencies worked diligently towards cracking down all those organizations which were behind this.

There were continuous suicide attacks since the 2 wars, Afghanistan war and the Iraq war.

But the Saudi forces have tactfully and successfully brought them all down.

Be it the 2005 crack down of the insurgents and militants who were killed in encounters along with the planners, one such of whom was Saleh Al-Oufi who was killed on 17^th August as well as the 3 day gunfight between the Saudi forces and the Al-Qaeda militants in the region of Al-Qassim. Or maybe the 2007 arrests of 10 people involved in fund raising for ‘suspicious groups’. Major General Mansour Al Turki had said that out of the 10, 7 were Saudi citizens and 1 expatriate, who were arrested from Jeddah while 2 out of the 10 were Saudi ID holders from Madinah. The roles of these weren’t clear enough but their involvement in a notorious planning sure was.

Same year, there were attacks on French nationals in the capital and the Saudi authorities caught a number of suspicious identities among whom were a couple of brain washed Saudi nationals involved in the heinous crime. A couple of months later, there were 172 people who were arrested and interrogated with regard to alleged involvement and planning of attacks in the serene state. $5 million dollar cash was also recovered back then. As many as 200 militants were also arrested soon after.

Saudi Arabia is very stern when it comes to countering terrorism. It has worked conscientiously against the terror plotters within the Kingdom as well as the ones planning something disastrous outside.

Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the Deputy Crown Prince, who is also the Defense Minister has urged the citizens to work along with the government of Saudi Arabia and make sure no ill-elements have place in this peaceful society.

Recently, the dynamic and enthusiastic 30 year old visited the United States and discussed along with his counter parts on issues pertaining to the instability in the Syrian region.

The Saudi government has been fighting the anti-social elements in Syria since a while now and that it has taken nifty measures to topple down the unwanted evil makers in the Syrian and Iraqi region.

ISIL or rather ISIS has been a long standing menacing enemy in the Syrian region.

Prince Mohammad met John Kerry, UN Secretary of State and many others along with Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General and discussed ways and various new strategies in tackling down the Daesh group which has caused nearly 400,000 deaths in Syria alone, a bloody war since a while now. Hundreds and thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have become homeless and have left their country in search of a better place to Europe and the neighboring Arab countries.

The Defense Minister’s momentous attitude towards ISIS can be also seen during his visit to France soon after the US meet. The Prince with his delegation met the French President Francois Hollande and discussed the same with Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

As per reports, there are speculations that the 2 nations are of the view of forming a new anti-terrorist Islamic Military Alliance to counter the ongoing tension in and around Damascus.

France, which is also the top third largest foreign investor in the country has been holding a joint committee headed by the visionary Architect of 2030, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman since a year now.

France has always been there with Saudi Arabia at all levels which could be seen in the tweet made by the French official soon after the blast in the holy city of Madinah denouncing all such inhumane acts of violence and promising to stand with the Islamic Kingdom during these times and fighting terrorism.

Saudi Arabia for a long now has been a victim like many other nations and the main target within the Kingdom are the British and American nationals. One such would be the blast in Riyadh around a decade or more ago where three car bombs were deliberately blown in a compound that killed Westerners and others, totaling the number of deaths to 26. The target was clear, whites.

It was then, the Saudi authorities along with the National Guard worked fearlessly towards curbing down and pulling off all the terrorist organizations and militants within the Kingdom which led to around hundreds of raids and seized large number of weapons.

In August 2009, these terrorists targeted Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef, Head of the Security Services back then. He survived the blast with a couple of injuries. It was the first attempt in the history of Saudi Arabia after the assassination of King Faisal in 1975 that a royal was the pivotal target.

Soon after in 2011, the Specialized Criminal Court, a non-Sharia court created in 2008 started hearing charges including ‘possessing explosives, missiles, military weapons and chemical materials and smuggling said items into the country for terrorist acts on behalf of Al-Qaeda against 85 people. The charges included involvement in the Riyadh compound bombings.

From the time Saudi Arabia initiated the war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen last year, there have been a continuous number of blasts in the pre-dominantly Shia majority areas in the eastern side of the country. Be it Qatif, Dammam or Abha.

At least 21 people and as many as 80 were injured in the blast last year on 22^nd May. ISIS had claimed the responsibility for the attacks.

Saudi Arabia since then hasn’t stepped back and is not willing to compromise with the terrorists at any level such that the new Islamic Alliance Military to be formed in coalition with the Arab countries would be fighting the Daesh from the ground level and that no militant found involved in any kind of terrorist activity within or outside the Kingdom would be dealt in the harshest way.

Jarring the terrorists, Kingdom has absolutely no plans of ‘talking it out’ with the anti-social elements and has made it clear that anyone found guilty wouldn’t be spared.

Not only the Saudi nationals, anyone in the Kingdom, including the expats have to be dealt with the most uncompromising manner. Gulzar Khan, an expatriate from Pakistan was the suicide bomber in one of the blasts that took place this year in Ramadan.

The serene nation has made it clear that anyone involved in any way trying to disrupt the peace of the country which is home to the 2 holiest mosques is certainly not among us.

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef visited the hospital soon after the attack and met the injured security officials. This encouraged the brave fighters of the nation even more and they showed their determination of keeping the country safe and sound from these evil forces.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef on his visit to the hospital

PC: Al Arabiya English

They were assured of every possible assistance by the Prince during his visit who also prayed for the martyrs who lost their lives defending the nation.

The encouraging words by the Crown Prince was a motivation for the Saudi forces and one of them even expressed his concern for the nation and said that they would fight until the last breathe to safeguard the tranquility of the country.

Prince Mohammad Bin Salman also seemed perturbed with the news of the terrorist attacks in Dhaka in the month of Ramadan killing 20 people as well the one at the airport in Istanbul which killed 40 innocent civilians.

Saudi Arabia indeed is facing high security threats but the harsh attitude of the government against these evil faces is a clear indication that the nation isn’t compromising and every necessary step would be taken to curb the terrorist activities. Be it within or abroad.