Islamic world decries triple bombings in Saudi Arabia

Regional political actors on Tuesday condemned a string of suicide attacks that rocked different parts of Saudi Arabia one day earlier, killing nine people.

On Monday, three suicide bombers targeted the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, the Mosque of the Prophet in the western city of Medina; and a Shia mosque in the eastern Qatif region, Anadolu Agency.

According to Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki, the first attack in Jeddah — which occurred at 2:15 a.m. local time (23:15 GMT Sunday) — left only the suicide attacker dead.

Later the same day, al-Turki said, security forces thwarted an attempt by a suicide bomber to enter the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, considered Islam’s second holiest site.

According to al-Turki, four security personnel were killed when they intercepted the bomber, who then detonated an explosive device.

The third attack reportedly occurred at roughly the same time when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a mosque in the Shia-majority Qatif region of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The attacks have since been roundly condemned by numerous Arab and Muslim organizations and states, including Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon; the Gulf Cooperation Council; the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; the International Union of Muslim Scholars; Egypt’s Al-Azhar; Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group; and Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Shia states and organizations have likewise condemned Monday’s triple attack, including Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi militant group.