2014 al-Dalwah attack

The 2014 al-Dalwah attack occurred on 3 November 2014 at al-Dalwah village in the eastern province of al-Ahsa, when three masked gunmen shot at a group of people, killing eight people and injuring nine others.[1][2][3] The attack occurred on Ashura and is thought to be targeting Shi’ite Muslims. Six people were arrested and one suspect killed.

2014 al-Dalwah attack
Location of Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia
Locational-Dalwah, al-Ahsa, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Date3 November 2014
TargetShia Muslims
Attack type
Mass shooting
WeaponsGuns
Deaths8 (+2 attackers)
Injured9
PerpetratorsISIL

On 4 November, two police officers and two gunmen were killed in an operation after five people were shot dead and another wounded.[4] According to Saudi security, the leader of the gunmen had previously slipped back into the kingdom after fighting in Iraq and Syria.[1]

While the government and the official media and religious establishment strongly condemned the attack, a handful of articles in the Saudi press argued that the attack "had not come out of nowhere", that there was anti-Shi'ite incitement in the kingdom on the part of "the religious establishment, preachers, and even university lecturers – and that it was on the rise".[5]

Attackers

On 24 November, three weeks after the attack, the Saudi Interior Ministry revealed the identity of the attackers on the Al-Dalwah Shiite shrine in Al-Ahsa: Abdullah Al-Sarhan, Khalid Anzi, Marwan Nail, and Tariq Maimoni. Saudi security authorities arrested 77 people linked to ISIS.[6]

Aftermath

On 2 September 2020, seven militants linked to the shooting were sentenced to death, while three others were handed 25-year jail terms each.[7]

References
  1. Coogle, Adam. "Dispatches: Killings of Saudi Shia a Wakeup Call". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  2. "Five killed in Saudi Arabia shooting". aljazeera.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  3. "Saudi forces kill suspect in attack on Shi'ites marking Ashoura". Reuters. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  4. Al Jazeera and agencies. "Deadly security raid in Saudi after shooting". aljazeera.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  5. "Saudi Columnists: There Is Anti-Shi'ite Incitement In Our Country". December 10, 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  6. "73 Saudis, 4 expats were arrested for suspecting in Al-Dalwah village crime". December 14, 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  7. "Saudi Arabia sentences seven Islamist militants to death over killings of Shi'ites". September 2, 2020 – via www.reuters.com.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.