RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — An alleged new affiliate of the Islamic State group in Saudi Arabia has claimed responsibility for an attack that targeted police and special forces in the kingdom’s southwest and that killed 15 people.
The claims by the so-called Hijaz Province of the Islamic State appeared hours after Thursday’s attack in the city of Abha, close to Saudi Arabia’s southern border with war-torn Yemen. It was carried on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts and was also reported by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant messages.
The statement says an IS suicide bomber targeted a “monument of the apostate”.
It was the first claim by the purportedly new IS branch. Hijaz is a reference to the historic western part of Saudi Arabia that is home to Islam’s holiest sites of Mecca Medina.
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Certainly not on the same scale at all and I don’t mean to imply that, however, there is a certain parallel between the Saudis and their relationship with Islamic extremism and the Republicans with their base. The Saudis have overtly encouraged Wahabism, an extreme form of Islam, in financial terms and in terms of public support. Additionally, there’s no doubt they’ve also supported Al Queda and other Sunni elements in Syria and across the Mid-East. Now they’re on the receiving end of the monster they’ve helped create. They’re just not conservative enough for these people. I guess they’re SINOs, Sunnis in name only.
There’s a lesson in here, but doubtful either of these parties will find it.